The Herd with Colin Cowherd - NFL Free Agency, Le’Veon Bell, Odell Beckham Jr. and Zion Williamson’s Return

Episode Date: March 15, 2019

Colin offers some hindsight evaluation of teams maneuvering NFL free agency and gives his thoughts on Le'Veon Bel, Odell Beckham Jr., and other relevant acquisitions.  Colin also dishes out some letter grades to the NFL's biggest free agency winners and offers caution regarding the collection of personalities in Cleveland.  Plus, there is one college basketball player that is the biggest NBA prospect since LeBron James left high school.  Guests include: FS1 NBA Insider and FOX Sports Radio host Chris Broussard, NFL contributor Shawne Merriman, FS1 Instigator and FOX Sports Radio host Rob Parker, NFL analyst Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus and FS1 personality and FOX Sports Radio host Jason McIntyre. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, guys? This is Clivert Taylor the Fourth. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show, I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker, this linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her.

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What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was harmed. you just understood.

That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Mark keep coming to her. He's like, you know, I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball.

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It's a Friday. We are ready to go. This is the herd. Wherever you may be and however you may be listening live in Los Angeles, IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS1, an absolutely packed show one hour from now. I'm going to hand out the grades, all the grades, spent time on this on the off-season moves, the free agency moves, in the National Football League. There's three teams, I think, got Aves, a couple of teams got D's. Maybe we'll hand out a failing grade, a couple of Cs. I think you'll be surprised that is in one hour.

Let me start with this. Generally, here is the way it works. Flyover country, Indianapolis, Green Bay, Kansas City, you don't pay attention to us. You're always paying attention to New York and, you know, Boston and Los Angeles. So generally the feeling in America, is when New York does something, they get way more credit than they deserve. Except here.

Does everybody get Lavian Bell was the free agent signing? Just because the car was in the garage for a year with a cover on it doesn't mean it's not a Lamborghini. Folks, Odell Beckham, Jr., struggled to stay healthy the last two years. He had 108 touches over the last two years. The last time Lavian Bell played, he had 400. six touches in one year. He's the scrimmage yards leader

career-wise in NFL history. Per game, nobody averages more yards per scrimmage than Levy and Bell. Jim Brown, behind him. Barry Sanders, behind him. Is it because you don't like New York? You don't buy into Sam Darnold.

This was the home run. This is the most impact full player signed. He will change first down. You can't bracket him like you can bracket a wide receiver. I get Antonio Brown's flashy. But if the Raiders' offensive line isn't good, Derek Carr's not going to have time to hit him deep. Yes, I think Baker-Mayfield and OBJ is going to be fun to watch.

If OBJ can stay healthy. And if Freddie Kitchens, who nobody knows if he can coach his way out of a paper bag, can design games where there's balance. in the offense. They got a lot of mouths to feed. The Jets do not have a lot of mouse to feed. Lampian Bell's the overwhelming star of the offense, and he's right behind Sam Darnold. Just because he had a cover on the sports car in the garage for a year, what the Jets are actually doing is what the Rams did with Jared Gough. You draft your West Coast quarterback, who was very, very good in college. One year later, you fire a defensive coach, you bring in an offensive coach,

then you go find an upgrade on the offensive line. Rams did that with Andrew Whitworth, a Pro Boulder. Jets just did that with a Raider guard, a Pro Boulder. Then you go find him a slot-wide receiver. Robert Woods came from Buffalo to the Rams, and now they went out the Jets and got Crowder from the Redskins, a veteran slot receiver. You know, and then you make sure you have a star running back.

You signed to a long-term deal, Gurley and Lavian Bell. The Jets are doing what the Rams did. They draft a quarterback. The first year you had a defensive coach. You get rid of them. You upgraded coach. You upgraded slot receiver. You upgrade O-Line.

The Jets reportedly are also going to draft O'Line as well. And like the Rams, who had already Aaron Donald, some nice defensive players, the Jets have nice defensive players. Leonard Williams, now C.J. Mosley, Jamal Adams to keep the games close. So Lavian Bell is the impact guy. 400 touches to 108 the last two years for OBJ. This is what you do. This is what you do with a young quarterback going into his second year.

You get him a better offensive coach. You get a better slot weapon. You upgrade the O line. You ensure he's got a star running back who can touch it 250 times. I mean, then I mean, I just, I'm surprised how many people, maybe it's because I'm so pro Sam Darnold, it'll just be massive pushback. But if you watch Darnel play last year, the Jets had the second lowest rated running backs and the second lowest rated wide receivers, and they have massively upgraded four yards behind

Sam Darnold. I mean, Lavian Bell's in the Jim Brown territory. We're talking about a guy that's going to touch the ball over 300 times a game who hasn't missed 16 games in the last two years with injuries. He just rested. came back, said it yesterday. I'm healthy. I've never felt better.

And, by the way, the jet schedule, they were a last place team. It ain't a tough schedule. It is not a, their tough away game is Philadelphia. They don't face a lot of pro-bowl quarterbacks. They face the bills, the dolphins. They face the Redskins, Ravens, Bengals, Jags, Giants. They don't face, they don't face a lot of pro-bowl quarterbacks. They don't face a lot of dynamic.

Offenses. They faced a Patriots twice, and they'll face Philadelphia who has a chance to win the Super Bowl. So I am just surprised because it is New York, and because it's an unbelievable all-time Jim Brown-level talent, Lavian Bell, it's not getting more love. I know it's not flashy. I know we like receivers more than running backs, but hello people. It's a major, major deal for the Jets. Now, if the guys cross town in New York, could get it together. Let me shift gears to this. You know how we have the powerball lottery in America, and individual states have like lotteries and stuff.

You live in Delaware, Florida, or Texas, or Illinois. Everybody's got their own lottery, right? California, we got our own lotteries. There's a powerball lottery. And I don't really play the lottery much. But then, you know, about once every couple years, it gets up to like $700 million or something, and you're like, oh, I'm going to play the lottery.

I'm going to play. Everybody plays the lottery. Folks, what you're watching in college basketball right now, and they just had a powerball lottery, get to $1.2 billion, everybody played it. Zion Williamson, let me give you a date to put in your head, May 14th, NBA lottery. That may outrank the actual playoff game that night. This kid is different. There's four players in the history of basketball that I watched, either in high school or college,

and you knew they were going to alter the league. Patrick Ewing, LeBron James, Shaq at LSU, and Zion Williamson. He is going to change so many things about this league. Devin Booker's a nice player for the Sons. He doesn't do anything for the overall league. Luca Donchage is a great player for Dallas. Zion Williamson is different. He's going to alter television ratings.

It used to be that you just tanked for the number one pick. You are tanking for Zion. There's six to seven teams now that are or more. In Los Angeles, they won't call it that, but it looks like that. Last night, Zion Williamson was on the floor. Forget 13 for 13. The second best basketball player in college was on the floor last night and was invisible. He is the most exciting game-altering prospect to come into this league in 16 years,

since LeBron James. And before that, it was Shaq. And before Shaq, it was Patrick Ewing. You're talking about a kid that's going to take a franchise, and if you're worth $2.5 billion, you'll be worth $2.5 billion the day he enters. He will change shoe company deals forever. He's going to change television ratings. He will sway conferences.

People will draft to stop him. I talked to an NBA scout a month ago, and I said, you know, I'm hearing a lot about, you know, different players going number one. and he goes, you don't have a choice. You have to draft him number one. He is going to be so discussed, so talked about, so fascinating. I mean, Zion was on TV last night and so was LeBron.

I watched every second of one and not a second of the other. And you can figure out who it was. It wasn't LeBron. Syracuse head coach Jim Beheim, who has seen, he's been coaching for 40 years. He was in the Big East when, you know, Ewing, Chris Mullen. Here's what he said after facing Zion last night. I've seen a lot of great players.

I'm not saying he's better than those guys, but he's a different player. He can do things that nobody has done in this game. I mean, Charles, like I said, it was close, but this guy's bigger, stronger. And, I mean, he's crazy, different. type of player. There's not guys like him. There wasn't

anybody like Shaq. Nobody was that big and fast. There was nobody like LeBron. 6-9 point guard at a high school that handles the ball and passes like that. The knock on Patrick Ewing was he dunked too much. This

kid sighs, his speed, his touch, his first step, his passion, his joy for the game. Folks, the second best player in college basketball was on the floor last night. He was as anonymous as a prank phone call. Who where?

Nobody cared. Total game changer. You get one of these. This is Tiger. This is Bryce Harper. And everybody will say it's too much. They almost always live up to the hype. Shaq lived up to it.

Ewing lived up to it. Tiger lived up to it. Bryce Harper now, going to make $330 million. The guys that become the guy, 10 years in any sport. We get one of these kids about every 8 to 10 to 12 years. Zion's it. And they almost always live up to it.

John Elway and Dan Marino both lived up to it. That's the greatest quarterback class ever. They both, Tiger, they all did. Coming up next, it was to me another indication of what a mess, popular yes, but what a mess

one NFL franchise currently is. Loaded show. Sean Merriman grading all free agents 40 minutes from now. Top of next hour. It's the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, FS1 and the IHeart Radio app. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

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Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing and we're still chasing it and we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses.

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If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't feel like you don't feel like. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ladeke. The ability to show a gold medal to someone

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It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart women's sports. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets,

meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levin this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me?

Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. Good to have you in a Friday. Fun week. I don't remember the last time in the middle of March. There were so many fun things to talk about this week, big college basketball, Monday, bracket show, all that stuff. Fun watching Duke Syracuse last night in Zion Williamson. And we've had a ton of NFL moves. The new reality in the NFL, it's a win for me. It's a win for you as NFL free agency. Star players moving around. I will hand out grades at the top of next hour. We have a pack show today. Just can't wait. There's just so many great things today. Thanks for stopping by our show. So the Cleveland Browns general manager is John Dorsey. He's a very aggressive guy. Always has been.

He was lucky. He walked into both Kansas City and Cleveland and they had a lot of cap space and he spent the money and he's drafted. He's a very good personnel guy. There's a lot of ego. That's why Kansas City sort of moved him out of town. Cleveland just wants to win. Their standards are much lower than Kansas City or a New England or a Pittsburgh or a Philadelphia.

The standards are pretty low for Cleveland, right? like they're just freaking out because people are paying attention to them and they got some nice players. And so yesterday, John Dorsey said, listen, OBJ's talent outweighs the challenges of coaching him. And you know what I think Cleveland next year is going to be incredibly predictable. I think they're going to be a louder, less mature, less well-coached, less stable, less buttoned-up Kansas City Chiefs. I think they're going to be all sorts of fun. But their GM is loud and abrasive. Their coach is a puppet.

Their quarterback is cocky. their owner is impatient and their two receivers, Landry and OBJ, are really talented and, let's just say, challenging. That's a reality show. If you were the president of HBO today, there is only one other team you would even consider for hard knocks, the Raiders. The Raiders in Cleveland, you wouldn't even have to call it hard knocks, just call it the Browns. They're going to be wildly fun, and I think it's a very predictable team. Baker Mayfield is accurate and throws a very accurate deep ball. He and OBJ are going to work.

OBJ leads the NFL in slants, yards on slants. That's a great pass for Baker. He's super accurate. He's also got speed and a good deep threat. Baker throws a terrific deep ball. My issues with Baker are not his arm and not his accuracy. So it's very predictable. They're going to work.

OBJ and Baker are going to work. This is not an X's and O's debate. Okay, I deal with data analysts and sources and executives. Cleveland next year is not an X's and O's debate. Their offense is going to be fun. This is a cultural debate. They're going to be loud with a puppet head coach and an ego-driven GM

and a quarterback that's cocky, an OBJ who wants the ball, and Jarvis Landry who talks, and Sheldon Richardson, who's talented but never quite played up to his contract. So this is not, when I see Cleveland, I see Kansas City, but without the sage wisdom,

of Andy Reid without the stability and the patience of the Hunt family. I see the Chiefs, but the Chief's culture, although there's a lot of fireworks, Patrick Mahomes is a grown-up, Andy Reid's a grown-up, Hunt family grown-up, Tyreek Hill, I never hear him talk. I never hear him talk. Sammy Watkins, I don't hear him talk. Eric Berry, Total Pro. D. Ford, never hear him talk. It's not a challenging roster. Kansas City, He's just exciting and talented and fun. And all of that is what Cleveland's going to be. This is not an ex and O's debate with us.

They're culturally, though, loud. And it's interesting because in their division, the Steelers have been loud and loose and fun and underachieved. So I think they're a very predictable team next year. Scamatically, a blast, a bunch of points, depth at key spots. but it culturally you got a head coach Freddie Kitchens. This would be a tough locker room with a veteran head coach. I mean, OBJ unraveled McAdo and Shermer couldn't quite go to a podium and give you a legit answer.

And I like OBJ. I really do. I like him a lot. I think he's a good kid. It gets hurt a little. And when I talked to him two weeks ago, I told him, I said, my number one concern with you is you're small and you miss a lot of games. It's not your personality.

I can deal with that. He wants the ball. He wants to be an all-time great. And I don't think he misses the New York Giants. You know, he was tired of it. Veteran newsman, John Goulet. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news.

This is the herd line news. So former chiefs and now Browns running back, Kareem Hunt, has officially been suspended by the NFL for eight games. His suspension sends from a February 2018. where he was seen on video shoving and kicking a woman during an altercation. Hunt not going to appeal is just going to accept it, and he released his statement this morning apologizing for his actions once again. Does him missing half the season change her outlook on the Browns at all?

He's a really good running back. He's a really good running back. He'll come back rested. I mean, you're going to have to answer a bunch of questions in weeks five, six and seven. That'll be a little distraction for a young head coach. He's a terrific player. He made a mistake. He's being punished.

And, but I, no, I mean, I, it's interesting. I think by the time he comes back in week eight between Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, I don't think Duke Johnson will get a lot of carries. I think eventually Duke Johnson would be a great player on another team. I don't think he's going to get any touches. He's a good pass catching running back. Great pass. He's like, like Levy and Bell. You can throw him the ball, good hands, good in space.

So, you know, he's a great player who made a mistake owned up to it. And eight games seems, you know, reasonable. and I think he'll come back with fresh legs. Labian Bell is going to come back this year. He's going to have fresh legs. And they're both really good players. So LeBron and the Lakers lost to the Raptors last night, which is not surprising to anyone.

But what everyone is talking about is what actually happened after the game. LeBron was seen telling Kauai Leonard will be in touch. So obviously we've all massively overreacted to that and are now speculating, do you think maybe they still have a shot to get Kauai. We've said, and you've said, it's kind of a foregone conclusion. If he's going to leave Toronto, he's going to come to the Clippers. Are we so sure about that? A lot of guys say to beautiful women will be in touch and the women have no interest calling the men back. Just because LeBron says we'll be in touch doesn't mean Kauai Leonard's interested.

I mean just because they could be just talking about going to dinner. It doesn't mean we can't then take this and make it. Kauai is coming to the Lakers in a few months. Come on. We're making a little bit too much. to this, right? We'll be in touch. I saw, who's we? I mean, if you're just making plans for yourself, you said, I'll be in touch. I saw Rob Parker in the hallway before

the show. I said, we'll be in touch. What does that mean? We're going to beat roommates? We clearly means LeBron and Magic and Rob Polinka will be in touch. All right. Well, by the way, my phone's always, you know, you can call me any time. It doesn't mean I'm coming over. We'll be in touch doesn't mean anything.

So you just think it's Raptors or Clippers for him? I think it's Raptors 50 percent, clippers, 50 percent. That's what I absolutely believe. And I think the Clippers are the, probably the shock of the league. I can't believe how well they're playing. That team plays hard every night. They play defense.

I still can't figure out Lakers gave up Lou Williams and Zubotch. They've both been unbelievable. I mean, that's the best story in the NBA. Doc Rivers is getting, Doc Rivers gets criticized for his coaching. What the Clippers are doing this year post-Hawas Harris, it's been fantastic. I wonder how the hard playing team will like Kauai's mandatory 15 nights off a year for rest. I don't think he'll take him when he's a cliper. And finally, after rumors surfaced that the Bills trade for Antonio Brown,

you remember that, was squashed because Antonio Brown did not want to play in Buffalo. Bill's GM, Brandon Bean, made sure yesterday that everyone understood players love Buffalo. Okay. That pissed me off, to be candid, because it was an ignorant comment or whatever. And I don't, you know, I'm not on social media, but if you live in Buffalo or you know anything, about Buffalo. I mean, don't speak about Buffalo if you don't know what this city and what this fan base

is like. I mean, it really pissed me off. And because it's not true. And when you talk to players and it was not, how many guys flowed through here today? Eight, nine, whatever. And we could have had more.

Well, let's timeout. Don't kid yourself. Is that Buffalo historically has to pay a little more to get players. Yeah, it's about a 20% markup. They give players to sign in Buffalo. Listen, I actually think Buffalo has a, I like their GM, I like this kid, and I really like their coach. I, I, I, the knock on, if you put those two guys in Dallas, but don't kid yourself, there are places players want to play. Young people in general in the medical

field, in the sales field, they want to be in big cities. They want to be in your own Atlanta's. They want to be in New York. In warm weather. They want to, yeah, I mean, it's done it against, I I think the bills actually have had a really good offseason, and I really like their GM, and I think they have a really good head coach. And Josh Allen was way better than I thought last year. I thought he was going to be potential bust. So there's a lot of things I like about Buffalo and where they're going. But you've got to pay a little bit more to go to Buffalo.

That's the reality of the bit. When I used to work in local TV, Phoenix used to pay in sunshine, because a lot of people, when they got to be 50 in local news, wanted to go work in Phoenix and golf. Minneapolis sometimes you have to pay a little more. That's the reality. Most Americans vacation in warm weather or not cold, and most players would rather play in moderate to warm, not cold. You don't go to Buffalo on vacation?

I feel like you're one of the people he's talking about. You just don't get Buffalo. I think he was personally mad at me. It sounded like it. It's kind of intimidating. Veteran newsman John Goulet. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by.

The herd line news. We have so much football today. Top of the hour, 30 minutes away. I'm going to take the teams in the NFL. I'm going to give grades. for the off-season free agency period. And I think you'll be surprised. I'm handing out three or four A's and a couple of D's,

and there may be a failing grade in there. And with that, New York Times, he is our voice of the NBA. He's my friend Chris Broussard is now joining us. So it's been an interesting week where, first of all, do you make anything out of LeBron and Kauai last night? We'll keep in touch. Do you make anything out of that?

No, look, these guys have a decent relationship. Remember last summer there were pictures of them playing basketball together. So it's not like they don't like each other. They hate each other or anything like that. But no, I make nothing out of it. It wasn't like Kawhi said, we'll be in touch. It was LeBron saying we'll be in touch. And they will.

Here's the thing with Kawhi Leonard. He has no interest in joining or putting together a super team. He doesn't. None. I'm not saying he's, you know, adamant against it. But he's not going to be a part of any discussion. let's do let's come together and do I've actually been told not from him or KD

but people around the league have told me that he and KD because the Clippers that's their dream scenario we talk about Kyrie and KD in New York the Clippers dream scenario is KD and Kauai at Staples Center and with the Clippers I've been told though that each

of those guys is leery of the narrative that they joined each other like KD doesn't want another narrative of all he went and joined Kauai. Kauai doesn't want a narrative of, oh, he went and joined KD. I don't think it has to be that way because they both would be going to the same too. And they have different games. Yeah, they don't want that narrative out there.

You can't join another star and not have that narrative. You are joining good players. And there's nothing wrong with, I mean, joining Kawhi or Kyrie is not like joining Golden State after they won 73 games. So I don't think either of them should be worried about that. Yeah. So, but that's what some people have told me. So we had a story this week. Rick Buecker had it.

A couple of different people said it. I suggested it about two weeks ago. I said, listen, the only asset the Lakers really have is LeBron James. Kyle Kuzma's the deep second asset. Way deep. I mean, he's a five starter on a really good team. You know, Boston Celtics, I'm not sure he starts. Warriors, he doesn't start.

Houston maybe starts. So they have LeBron. but there are stories now that Jeannie Bus was so ticked off at Clutch Sports, Rich Paul LeBron, that she considered it was brought up. Does that shock you the story came out? Well, we both know Rick Buecker. We worked with him at the other place. I've known him for decades.

He's a good reporter. And we had Rick on our show yesterday, the Eye Couple, Rob Park and I. And I brought up to, look, this is how I work. I've talked to people involved in this story who've denied it, adamantly said it's not true. I brought that up to Rick. I brought up, why did you kind of bring up that? Like, usually that would be the lead, right? Like, the Lakers considered trading LeBron James,

and he kind of had it down, I don't know, six, seven paragraphs. But he said because it wasn't, you know, the gist of the story was that LeBron couldn't fetch that much on the market anyway, so that's why he kind of had it lower. But my point is people are denying it. That's what I've been told. But I don't know whether it's true or not.

However, I, look, contemplated, I mean, a lot of things have crossed people's minds. I'd hate to tell people what the things that have crossed my mind. You know what I'm saying? Right. So, but it may be it crossed her mind enough to tell them. Rick told us on our radio show yesterday that it crossed her mind to the point where she asked Magic and Palinka, Rob Palinka, does he have no trade clause? And so that's a little more.

consideration, if that's the case. How about this? So for the last 15 years, I always felt like there was LeBron and then a bunch of good players underneath him like Kevin Durant, obviously, Kauai Hardin, that think about it this way. As great as Tom Brady is, he just won the Super Bowl, he was almost the MVP two years ago. I would absolutely trade Tom Brady for Patrick Mahomes today. Right.

Without even thinking about it. I would absolutely trade Tom Brady. Brady for about five young quarterbacks in the league. There are four players in basketball in the world right now that I would trade for over LeBron, Janus, Durant, Steph, and Zion. I would absolutely, listen. KD, probably too. Yeah, I put him.

Yonnes, Steph, Durant, and Zion. I would trade for them before I would trade for LeBron James. And there's, by the way, I didn't put Hardin. You didn't get Embeddeed. I didn't. M. Beds had an injury history. That worries me. And he also doesn't handle the ball. And Hardin, I don't think, is always great to play with, although it was really close. Paul George is somebody I considered, but I still have never seen him elevate in the postseason.

But my point is here. It is not outrageous. Tom Brady right now is performing in terms of championships at a higher level than LeBron. I would move Tom Brady tomorrow for Patrick Mahomes. Right. Your point is totally makes sense. I mean, when the GMs did their poll beginning this year, who you would start your team with.

It wasn't LeBron. I don't remember who it was, but it wasn't LeBron. I thought he was like four. Right. And it won't be like, it's just age. Who would have traded for Michael Jordan in his Washington years? You know, he's the greatest ever. So it happens.

And here's the other thing about LeBron. Now, LeBron's got more left than Jordan had when he was in Washington. But LeBron, if they, if they, if they. they did trade him. He ain't going to be happy. And LeBron is a handful, even when he wants to be there. In Cleveland, he was a handful.

And Lale, he wants a handful, and he wants to be there. Remember, Kobe at the end, three years before he retired, Dwight Howard turned down 30 million. Michael Jordan's teammates couldn't stand in. LeBron, Paul George, chose Westbrook over him. Kyrie left him.

When you get these iconic guys, MJ Kobe LeBron, it ain't just the game. anymore. The last three or four years, it's the, LeBron brings a lot of suitcases into your house. You better have space. You brought up Jordan and I've talked

about it. I was there in Washington covering that team a lot for the New York Times and they couldn't stand because it, and that wasn't in the social media age. If that had been nowadays, it would have been a lot worse. It may have been comparable to this LeBron stuff. And so

these guys bring that, but LeBron wants to be in Los Angeles. So if they traded him, say they trade him to New Orleans. He'd be miserable. Or Charlotte. He might, I don't know. I have no idea what's in his mind, but he might retire. I don't think you're-

Rather than playing New Orleans or Charlotte or if they should be somewhere. I don't think you're crazy. And the notion there was brought up in Rick's article by some executive would Milwaukee try to pair him with Yon? I wouldn't even think about pairing LeBron with Yonis. No, that's Yonis. Their games aren't complimentary. No.

And LeBron, and look, it's not, it's not, this is, I don't think this is necessarily a knock on LeBron, but he's a, he's an icon. And he's still a great player. When he comes in, he takes over. He sucks the air out of the franchise. And you, yeah, Milwaukee's got something nice going. They're not. They're not. They're not.

By the way, let me just throw this out there. You got a lot of sources. In my lifetime, there have been four young athletes. I've seen in basketball that were different. Ewing, Shaq, LeBron, and Zion. I'm telling you right now, I have two guys, executives in the league. They're like,

you have to pick Zion number one. He is literally going to change shoe deals, TV ratings. He will add $4 to $500 million of net worth to the franchise that gets him. That's the belief in the NBA. If your franchise is worth $3 billion, Zion makes it worth $3.5 billion.

That's from an executive who deals in that... space, operational space. No, I'm hearing the same things. I haven't talked to one person who has said he's not the definitive number one pick. It's not just what you see that's obvious, the athletic ability, the dunking, the excitement. It's also that he loves the game. Usually how many college kids, especially ones that can score 20-something a night, play defense like that?

LeBron didn't, and I'm not saying he's going to be LeBron James, but LeBron was not that type defender. He just didn't have the interest in it early in his career in Cleveland. This guy defends. This guy's blocking jump shots. He's making steals. He's got plays with a joy and a love for the game. He's 18 years old. Look at him. He doesn't even look like him.

Well, they're going to get that baby fat off of him, too. And he's still going to be chiseled and huge, but they're going to get that baby fat off of him, getting with a nutritionist. I even had one scout tell me, not like a lot or permanently, but they were like he could even play some point. Like if you have to have him dribble the ball up court or push the ball. Listen, we all love Yonnas.

He can do that. Yonis wasn't close to this good at that age. No, but Yonis is seven feet. That's the difference. No, but I'm saying Yonis developed by year three into a nice player. I think Yonis averaged seven points. The game. Jimmy Butler averaged two and a half.

I mean, so this kid is. And what he did. last night. Oh. And here, Colin, I don't know if I've said this on your show. If the Knicks have the great blessing to get Kyrie, KD, and the number one pick, I was saying up to about two weeks ago, I was like, you trade that number one pick for Anthony Davis.

No one. Now I wouldn't do it. And not just because of how explosive Zion is. Here's why. Because he can do it off the ball. Yep. Like R.J. Barrett has the ball most of them. Last night, Zion's floating around through the zone.

He's not dribbling the ball. He can give you 20 without dominating the ball. And with Kyrie and KD, that's what you need. He would fit good with those two. So he's special, man. I love him. Yeah. And I've had scouts tell me, too, look, the only question.

The only question is, well, that, but the jump shot. No, he'll get, none of these kids can shoot at 17. Right. And that's what people have told. Brown couldn't shoot his first four years in the league. If Jason Kidd could develop a jump shot, he'll be able to develop a jump shot. He is the number one pick, no question. NFL offseason grades in 20 minutes, Chris Broussard, great seeing you.

Rob Parker and Chris, of course, host a radio show The Odd Couple, was talking to a rival in the industry last week. And they said, you know, Parker and Broussard, that show has an it quality. True? That's true. Yeah, and this guy was good. This is a player in my industry. All right. Thank you.

You made my day. Well, that's what he said. I said slow down. Let's not go crazy. You're doing a great job. Chris Broussard, have a great weekend. Coming up next, the NFC East was decided yesterday. And it was not decided on the field in the NFL.

It was decided upstairs. That's coming up. Third. Good to have you in today. You know, so much of sports is upstairs. You know, we pay attention to the players and the coaches and they're the ones the interview, and you buy the jerseys of players, you know,

not general managers, but this league's all about upstairs. If you can't get your act together upstairs, you know, the Lakers have had nothing but trouble since the great Dr. Buss passed away, handed the franchise to his kids, and they just haven't made great decisions on coaches, on players, on executives.

Lakers aren't as formidable upstairs. Nothing against Jeannie Buss. She's on the operation side, not the basketball side, But you see this all the time. For a long time, Al Davis, I thought, hurt the Raiders at the end of his life. Cincinnati always feels like it's limited upstairs. Pittsburgh does not feel. Green Bay doesn't have an owner.

Dallas and New England have aggressive owners. Rams have an aggressive owner, Stan Cronky. So, I mean, this offseason has really defined why the Philadelphia Eagles are going to be at the top, first or second place, playoff team, win the division, or a wild card team for the next decade. they're really smart. They had a great offseason. They passed on Golden Tate. This is a great example. They brought in Golden Tate, didn't give up anything for him. They got a couple of good playoff moments out of Golden State and at Golden Tate, and they bailed on him.

And the New York Giants, who don't know what they're doing, massively overreached and gave him four years and a ton of money. You know, this is why the New York Giants right now are a second-tier franchise. I've been saying this. I think they have this second worst winning percentage over the last five years. next to like Detroit or Cleveland. This is a bad football operation in New York. And a great stockbroker knows when to buy a stock, but the great ones know also when to sell a stock. And Nick Foles, they squeezed every ounce of talent out of Nick Foles.

And then they let the Jags overpay for him. Jacksonville doesn't have the coaches, the offensive line. they don't have the general manager of Philadelphia, and Nick Foles is going to go down to Jacksonville and not play up to his contract. It's guaranteed. And Golden Tate is not going to have the quarterback in New York. He's not going to have the tight end, Zacherts,

deflecting some of the coverage. He's not going to have the Giants O'Line, and frankly the Philadelphia O'line, and frankly the Philadelphia Eagles, Howie Roseman, as good as any GM in the league. As good as any GM in the league. Chris Ballard, the Colts, Kansas City, Bruce Veach, Ballard,

Howie Roseman. These guys are as good as anybody in this league. And this is a classic example of a really smart team, Philadelphia, picking a stock, getting a little out of it, and selling it, and the sucker coming buying it. And Jacksonville with Foles, Nick Foles will never be as good in Jacksonville as the man.

And you look at the NFC East right now. This is why the Eagles are going to be at the top. of it. And in Dallas, by the way, I think, is much less dysfunctional than everybody claims. Washington, once again in free agency, dysfunctional. Giants, I have no idea what they're doing. Joe Banner was an executive in that division for years with Philadelphia for like 17 years, and he built a consistent winner. Joe Banner got fired eventually, but Joe Banner built a consistent winner for 17 years in

Philadelphia. And, you know, he said yesterday on the Giants, what are they doing? plan. So I just have no idea what they're doing. And then if you break down the individual evaluations decision, Ogletree, you can't cover anybody who's making $10 million a year, but you're building a team for the future. You can win and rebuild at the same time. Of course you can, but there's nothing you're doing that indicates you're going to be able to do that effectively. And then the Eli thing, I mean, you know, listen, it's great to be loyal to a player that's giving you so much, but at some point you today, they're on the field. Yeah, Giants just don't know what they're doing. In Philadelphia, uh,

really used him. Golden Tate's a great defining example. I want to shift to this. Marvin Lewis coached in the NFL for a long time. He said he would not draft Kyler Murray as the number one pick at quarterback. It was not that Marvin Lewis didn't think Kyler Murray had talent, but Marvin Lewis touched on something that's a reality in the NFL that never gets talked about. That if you draft Kyler Murray, you have to start from scratch. You put in a completely different offense. You're drafting different players and you just did that with Josh Rosen. I will say this on the whole Kyler-Marie situation is that

it is remarkable how often teams bail on people, young people. Never forget, Janice averaged seven points a game as a rookie, Jimmy Butler 2 and a half, Paul George 7, Troy Aikman was 0 and 11

and had nine TDs and 18 interceptions. Derek Carr lost his first 10 games. Antonio Brown's rookie year he had 16 catches. Not in a game for the season. He had 167 yards. Peyton Manning was 3 and 13 and led the NFL in Pecks. Who in God's name would have won in Arizona last year? They went through two coordinators, had a defensive coach. The coaches were over their head. Who would have won there last year? And what's funny is, we've seen the Josh Rosen thing. We saw it with the Rams.

thin frame, PAC 12 quarterback, came in, Goff and Josh Rosen, came from some money, struggled under a defensive-minded head coach rookie season. We've seen this before.

You know, by the way, the Arizona Cardinals did not start the year with Josh Rosen. He finished the year. And if you looked at the Arizona Cardinals' numbers, when, by the way, they were going through all this chaos with coaching, they were a much better team with Josh Rosen.

O and three without him, three and ten with him. Six points a game without him, 16 with him. 190 yards without him, 250 with him. Passing yards went up 30%. So they were a much better team with Josh Rosen. And now the problem is, I think once, what decision would I make? Well, once you hired Cliff Kingsbury, you've got to ask Cliff, who do you like? Because you've handed the franchise over to Cliff Kingsbury.

If he doesn't work, everybody's getting fired there. They're cleaning out the building. Steve Kimes done. They're all done. So it comes down to what is Cliff Kingsbury like? I would not have hired Cliff Kingsbury. I think he has not proven he's a successful college coach. He's a good quarterback guy.

But Freddie Kitchens in Cleveland work well with Baker Mayfield. Doesn't mean he's a head coach. So what would I do? I would ask Cliff Kingsbury once he was in house, who do you like? But Marvin Lewis said, no, thanks for a reason. Got to start from scratch. different ideology, different offense. You'll build your line differently.

You'll build your defense differently. Josh Rosen became a starter in week four last year. Just a reminder, Arizona was much better offensively in the middle of chaos. He was a better quarterback Josh Rosen than Jared Goff was his first year. Hour two next. Ah, hour two. We're loaded. This is the herd.

Wherever you may be and however you may be listening. IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and FS, One. In about 10 minutes, I'm going to give my grades in free agency. Our graphic department is working to give me my report cards. So I'll get to that in a couple of minutes. I want to start hour two. Free agency has been fun. Jesse James, tight end, decent tight end.

Not a bad player for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Not great, but a good player has left the Steelers. He said yesterday, I was glad to get away from all the drama. You know, I've said this with the Pittsburgh Steelers over the last several years. they've underachieved. You can blame whoever you want. I don't care. Mike Tomlin is the head coach.

I think he has created a very loud, a very expressive, a very loose, and a very highly emotional culture. Pete Carroll did the same in Seattle, and they both blew up. The loudest, loosest cultures in the NFL are the Jags, the Seahawks, and the Steelers, and it didn't work with any of them.

Kansas City's fun and explosive. They're not loose. They're not loud. loose and loud doesn't work as a parent. I've walked into houses where it's loose, there's no rules, and it's loud. Those kids underachieve. Loose and loud doesn't work. It doesn't work in business.

I've worked for four corporations. Three have all been fantastic. The loose, loud one, Tampa, a mess. It doesn't work, ever. I don't buy it. I don't buy it as a parent. Football's about choreography. It's a brotherhood.

A quarterback needs a left tackle that protects him. a right guard that protects him. You have to run the right routes or they become interceptions. It is choreography. It's memorization of a massive playbook. Defences. Indomicon Sue has more talent than Aaron Donald. Aaron Donald's coachable.

Indomican Sue is doing his own thing. That's why one's a first ballot hall of famer and one's just rich. The culture of the Steelers is loud and loose. Seattle did it. Then Pete Carroll moved those players out of town. Last year, they got. really quiet, and they got a playoff berth. Isn't it funny how it works? Loud and loose is not a legitimate culture long term. The media loves that stuff because it gives

them stories, but the media mostly doesn't know what it's doing when it comes to business. They're writers, they're broadcasters. That's what we do. We're not business people. Loose and loud doesn't work at corporate America. It doesn't. It doesn't work in football. It doesn't work as parenting and the Steelers have to tighten it up. Blame whoever you want, but the football coach, we have a reigning dynasty in the NFL for the last 20 years. They're the opposite of loose and loud. I don't think it works long term.

Let me bring in a guy who played in the NFL for almost a decade. He was a multiple time all pro. NFL leader, first three years in Sacks, Sean Merriman, who's never afraid to give us his opinion. By the way, it's funny about loose and loud. And again, I'm a media member. I pay attention to shiny objects, all right? But if you look at what the Patriots have done,

and to a degree, the Cowboys got rid of Dez, who could be loose and loud, they went to Quiet Amari and Quiet Dak. Talk about the locker room, about adults. And it's why I can't have a locker room in any sport of kids, NBA, mostly veteran teams that win. Yeah, well, you go to any team that wins. The players run the locker room.

it's really not about the coaches. You can have a great coach. I don't care who's there coaching, but the players really run the locker room. So when you have these loud guys, when you have these guys that can't get on the same page or everybody else, it's up to whoever that leader is to the team or leaders

to go to them and talk to them before it even gets to a coach. And that's how you can tell the quality of that team and the leadership roles and how much they win football games because the leaders of the team are the ones to control practice. You know, if practice wherever ran long, when I play with the charges, we'll have L.T. Or Lorenzo O'Neill,

one of the guys, we'll be screaming tea time. Practice over, right? You know, we can, it controlled, the players control the practice. They control the team. So if you got too many guys that's out of control, and it's not that one or two guys or three guys, same thing about Wittin is back in the locker room now.

Jason Witton. Jason Witton. It's not because it's playmaking ability, right? they're bringing him back into the locker room because he's the controller. He's the guy who's going to speak up and run that locker room, and they need that. By the way, you know, the Buffalo, Buffalo has done some things in the off season. I've always felt they have to pay about 20% more than everybody else. And their general manager came out yesterday and he goes, I'm pissed.

People bad mouth in Buffalo. Now, I like their GM and I like their coach. And I like some of their players. And Josh Allen was way better than I thought. You played in Buffalo. And my takeaway in Buffalo is, listen, it's the reality. Most players don't want to play right next to Nova Scotia. Warm weather, big cities, pretty girls is generally what, you know, players like to have fun.

You're 25-year-old millionaires. Give me your Buffalo story. Yeah, it was, you know, I got waived by the charges. And, you know, so when I got waived and let go, Buffalo at the time had the worst record in NFL. So when you get waived, then the teams who claim you with the worst record have their first rights to your contract. Buddy Nicks, you know, fortunately was he was the guy who really drafted me. with the charges. And now he's at,

with Buffalo, he called and told me, he said, Sean, I want you out here and, you know, we would love to have you.

I know what you can bring to the team. I know that, you know, your impact to our organization. We want you here. I said, buddy,

I don't want to come there. It was two reasons. Buffalo, I think, was 0 and 5, 0, 0 and 6 or something like that at the time. They didn't have an opportunity to go to the playoffs.

That's one. Two, I didn't want to go to Buffalo. For all the reasons you just named. Yeah. I just didn't want to go. and I told him that I didn't want to go and I hung up the phone. He called me two hours later and said, well, congratulations, you're a Buffalo bill.

So, you know, I was scratching and screaming because... Jim Kelly said initially, he didn't want to go to Buffalo. Nobody wanted to go to Buffalo. I mean, you can't say, you know what, when I get drafted, the first place you want to go was Buffalo. No one says that. That's a reality. By the way, nobody says first place they want to go in the NBA is Sacramento. But Sacramento, by the way, has a good team now.

They've got a bunch of good young players. Right. But there are certain markets that geographically are at a disadvantage in sports. Yeah, absolutely. Seattle, Mariners. Yeah. Too far geographic. Especially if you're a top pick and you have a personality and you like, for me, I wanted to do, be in entertainment world.

I wanted to do some TV and I knew those opportunities for me wasn't in Buffalo. Now, when I went there, it changed. You liked it. I liked it. It was one of the things that, and Buddy Nix told me, he said, Sean, when you come here, it's not going to be what you think. Right? I said, buddy, I'm not coming.

out there and you felt the love from the city. Right. The organization treats you great. And then the third part is they pay you. You know, they will pay you. No, Buffalo pays. They pays. And they have to pay, especially when you're a big-name guy because they need

the big-name guys to stay there. By the way, OBJ joins Cleveland. I'm not doubting Cleveland's talent, but you've got a Kareem Hunt situation week eight. OBJ and Jarvis Landry are challenging to coach. Sheldon Richardson's talented, never played up to his contract. And Freddie Kitchens? to me as a position coach, last year elevated a coordinator, an hour later he's a head coach.

Doesn't that look a little problematic to you? All those big personalities, strong point of view, GM, and Freddie Kitchens, could he be engulfed by that? No, I don't think it's going to be a problem at all. And him being a coordinator, this is one thing about wire receivers, especially a big name wire receiver and a guy with a big personality and a big persona.

They just want the damn ball. They don't care about anything else. if you want to make them happy, just get them the football. They don't need to be talked to a different way. They don't need to be pampered. They don't need anything extra outside of getting the ball. Because whenever they have, I don't care where you play at, if you got a quarterback that can get you a big wire receiver to football,

they're happy, period. And sometimes it's to the point they're so happy, they don't even care if the game is won or loss, as long as they're getting the ball. Now, if you get in the ball and they win, then you've got guys that are extremely happy. So, you know, Freddie Kisses, he's not going to have a problem at all with all those personalities on the field. He's just going to have a problem with having to go to O'Dell and say, you know, this week or Landry and say this week, we got to run the ball because that's in the game plan.

He might have a problem with that. But as long as you're getting your big guys to football, everybody's happy. And Baker is an accurate thrower. I actually think an undervalued signing was Lavian Bell. You know, listen, he's a sports car. He was in the garage for a year with a cover. over it so people forgot, but he touches the ball 350 times. He is

the yards from scrimmage leader in NFL history per game. Sam Darnold can always just turn around and give him the ball. You can bracket OBJ. The wind can be terrible. You can't get the ball downfield. I think Levian Bell, for a young quarterback, Gurley to

golf, Zeke to Dak, we have multiple example, Sean, where you give a young quarterback, a star back, and it works every time. I love it. I love him with the Jets. You know, one thing about the young quarterbacks when they struggle to catch up to the speed of the game and trying to get on the same page.

Takes about two full years. It takes about two, four years. But what makes it easy is you have a guy like Levion Bell who can not only run a ball, but can catch the ball out of the backfield. Great catcher. You can line them up in a slot. If you're in trouble, you can dumb the ball off to him because you know as soon as he touched the ball, he's going to make something happen.

So automatically, that takes kind of the worry out of a young quarterback saying, And if I know I get in trouble, no matter what happens, I can just dump the ball to Laveon. He's going to make something happen out there in the field. So it's not just about what he can do when he's lined up behind the quarterback. It's also how many places they can put him on the field and he's still going to make plays. Finally, Cardinals were in a weird situation. Marvin Lewis said yesterday, I wouldn't bail on Josh Rosen because then you've got to start all over again. And it is interesting.

You know, Kobe Bryant's first year in the league, he shot 40 percent, seven points, Yonah six, Jimmy Butler, two, Aikman was 0 for 11. R. O for 10. I don't believe on bailing on young people. And those are great players. Forget average players. This league can be overwhelming. Peyton Manning was a mess, his first year in the league. Arizona last year, who would have won? Two coordinators, coach over his head. I would have a hard, and I think Kyler Murray is an NFL player, but Sean, I'd have a hard time bailing on a rookie quarterback, who, by the way, they were better when he played than when he didn't. Would you just, what's your take on that? Well, you know, this is probably, I wouldn't bail either.

And if you know you're not going to bail, come out publicly and say it right away. George Rosen is our guy going forward, and that's it. They haven't. They haven't. And when you put that in the quarterback's mind and you letting him know that we might take somebody else, okay, right before the draft, we're just going to stick with you. But you were on the block before we're going to stick. That plays into a guy's mental.

It plays into his aura going, you know, it's his whole philosophy. He creates a little resentment? No, absolutely. Look at those trade rumors did to the young liker players. Yeah, that's exactly what it was. No, I mean, it's a good point. Like if your Arizona either come out and emboldened your guy Rosen, but by not saying anything.

Now, maybe they are saying something to him in-house, but it does plant that seed. They're not all in on me. And why should it be all in on them? If you're not coming out publicly and saying, is all got no matter what going forward. Why would it be all in on them? That's a good point.

Great seeing you, Biden. Same here. Coming up next, I'll give out all the grades for NFL free agency. In LA, hour two, it's the herd. Be sure to catch live editions of the herd. Weekdays in noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athletes themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear.

The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real. From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaders to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context, and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live there. them listen to Sports Slice on the iHeart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast and for more follow timbo slice of life 12 and the ticot podcast network on ticot welcome to my new podcast learn the hard way with me your host and your favorite therapist care games and in recognition of mental health awareness month i'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental

health field and conversations with so many incredible guests i'm talking tripp fontaine ryan clark Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch. Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross, because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on Earth. Are you a good person because you're afraid?

Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person. Join me, Kear Gaines, as we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, Learn the Hard Way.

Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the Hardway and listen now. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On Hurtle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness, professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions

to talk about the challenge that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WMBA standout, Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't. Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you,

but don't ever feel like you don't belong. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs, Gabby Thomas, and Katie Ladeke. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face light up and smile, that means the world to me. and that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world.

Like, I can do anything. I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polio. polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness.

So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back. Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levant this plant to a billion dollar fraud. But with Two kings from entirely different worlds. Just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know.

Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life. Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Tomorrow, two of the best pound-per-pound fighters on the planet put their perfect records on the line at AT&T Stadium as Errol Spence Jr. takes on Mikey Garcia for the World Welterweight Championship. Tomorrow 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific, live on pay-per-view. By the way, Spence, I think is going to win this fight.

Garcia's moving up weight classes. They sent me boxing shorts for this. I think I'm going to take these to bed. I don't know how my wife will react. I'll say, listen, I'm the champ. Garcia's moving up weight classes. Spence is one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world. So check it out on pay-per-view. All right.

So here we have all these teams making all these moves. And I thought I'd look at eight or ten of the teams and give you sort of my feeling of what I saw in the free agency. And I think there's a lot of things to consider. Did you add good players? But are they a chemistry issue? Did you get some value out of them? Or did you overpay for them?

Did they fit your scheme? Did you go and attack the side of the ball that needs help? So I thought little music maybe. I'd run through my off-season report cards. Let me hand out first in A. I thought the New York Jets hit it out of the park. First of all, Labian Bell is exactly what Dak got in Zeke and what Jared Goff got in Todd Gurley.

A dominating running back presence, nothing helps a young quarterback more. They also upgraded at slot-wide receiver and offensive line. This plan looks a lot like, a lot like the Los Angeles Rams, bringing a slot, upgrade the old line, dependable running back. The Jets already have some nice defensive pieces. They have the third pick, which I've been told they'd move down if they could get more pieces. They need a center and they could use another corner. I thought they did a really good job.

By the way, Lavin Bell's contract is not bad. It is not an outrageous contract for the production he will add. Next up, Cleveland Browns. I'll give him a B. O'Dell Beckham's missed 16 games in the last two years. And I think between Sheldon Richardson, Odell Beckham, and Jarvis Landry, this is a challenging team to coach

with a rookie head coach who's only been a coordinator for eight games, and nobody else in the league would have even interviewed Freddie Kitchens for a coordinator job, forget giving him the head coaching job. They did let go of a starting safety, Gibreel Peppers, who's a good player, not a great player, and they feel they've got that solved. I don't question, I do not.

question the X's and O's of the Browns. But I do question the culture. A lot of egos, a lot of strong points of view, and a head coach who appears to be a puppet. I'd give them a B. Thought the most underrated class of everybody was the Green Bay Packers. They didn't get a star, so I'll give them an A-minus. But linebacker Preston Smith is a baller. He will come in and start.

Adrian Amos, a safety from the Bears, will come in a. and start. Offensive lineman Billy Turner's expensive, but worth it in my opinion. I think they went. They also got Zadaria Smith. They went and attacked the defensive side of the ball, which by the way, they also did last

year in the draft. So, now, a minus because I don't think they got a guy that changes losses to wins, and I don't love, and I consider this part of free agency, who they hired as a head coach. But I do think they were smart. They got mid-level free agents. I'd give

the Packers at A-minus. Raiders up next, I would give them a B-minus. Trent Brown was massively overpaid at left tackle. They had a much more affordable guard. I know it's not as crucial a position, but the Colts' Jordan Nelson proved guards matter too. I thought they overspent for the pieces they got and they lost a couple of guys.

Jordy Nelson's another, who I think are good locker room guys. They did upgrade on the perimeter, but I don't think their offensive line is perhaps as good. I think they just overpaid massively for Trent Brown. He's not the highest paid offensive line in an NFL history. And I don't think Dante Scarnikia basically saved his reputation last year. There were a lot of people that didn't know if he was a top starting left tackle, period, in the NFL. Forget the highest pay that I'd give the Raiders a B minus.

Niners, I'd give a B plus to. Under the radar, they went out and got a highly athletic linebacker, Kwan, Alex. He's a really nice player. They went out and attacked the defensive side of the ball. D Ford's expensive, but I like him a lot. I know the Colts were interested in D. Ford, and then Kansas City franchised him. Jason Barrett is a corner, a decent corner. They did not answer.

They need a top-wide receiver. Right now, the Niners do not have a number one wide receiver. Dante Pettis is a really solid two. Had a nice rookie year. They have a star at tight end. They upgraded with Tevin Coleman. They're running back situation. and, of course, they get Jimmy Garoppolo back.

They didn't answer wide receiver. I think they will do that in the draft, not with their first pick, which is the number two pick, but with their second and third picks. Ravens, I'd give a C-plus. I like Mark Ingram, and Earl Thomas is not worth the money,

but they just lost too many defensive starters. Four defensive starter, C.J. Mosley, linebacker, you just can't replace that guy. There's nobody in the draft class you can replace. Nobody on the market you can replace. So they get dinged. for that. But it's a little better than just average because I think Mark Ingram, second to

Levian Bell, can really help a young quarterback. Listen, it's not math here, folks. It's not algebra. Young quarterbacks flourish when you give them a dependable workhorse behind them. Dak and Zeke, golf and girly. It's not compliment. By the way, Patrick Mahomes had better numbers with Kareem Hunt than without Kareem Hunt. So they got Lamar a running back. I like. He's not a pop guy, but he's a solid workhorse guy. Philadelphia Eagles, I thought they did great. I thought arguably did better than anybody, not a shot, great GM. First of all, they added Malik Jackson next to Fletcher Cox, and then they re-signed

Brandon Graham, a great young defensive guy up front. That defensive line's the best in football right now. Malik Jackson, Fletcher Cox, Brandon Graham is great. I also love what they did. They got a couple of nice moments out of Golden Tate. then they moved off him. That's how you play the game. They got a couple of nice moments out of Michael Bennett, who I still think can play, and then they moved off him.

Nick Foles, they squeezed every ounce of pulp out of that orange, and then they moved off them. The Eagles didn't even have cap space. I also think Deshawn Jackson's a really nice get. For the price they paid for Deshawn Jackson, he and Carson Wentz, very nice. Next up, their indivision rival, the Redskins. I just hated everything about it. it. Landon Collins plays

the position that's dying and they gave him $84 million. They lost Preston Smith, a linebacker who I really like. Case Keenham's fine. I would have gone out and got Josh Rosen. I mean, I don't know. I never love what they do in free agency.

This is an organization where I don't trust the owner. I just didn't like what they did. Giants were worse. I'd give them a D-minus. It's not losing Odell Beckham. That's not it. It's your reluctance to move off a shot fighter at quarterback. Olivier Vernon was a nice player. You don't have him.

Golden Tate, I like, is the number two or a three guy. I thought Philadelphia used him wisely. I like Golden Tate. I'd love to have him on a football team, but not for $38 million. I just can't figure out what the plan is. The one thing I'll say about the Giants last couple of years, they've attacked their offensive line, and they've done a pretty good job with their offensive line. They drafted a great kid last year, Will Hernandez. They got a starter from the Browns this offseason.

That's why I didn't give them an F, a D-minus. And finally, the Jaguars, they upgraded a quarterback. But more than anything, I'm giving him a C-plus, not because they attained Nick Fulz, because they moved off late Bortles. They lost Malik Jackson, who's a really good player. The offense now is Nick Foles and Leonard Fernette. Furnett, I'm not sure, loves football.

Remarkably, he's, with that body type, he's hurt a lot. And I'm giving him a grade as C-Polns. Plus because they were able to move off Blake Bortals, and the New York Giants are proving that's apparently incredibly difficult for a lot of teams to just acknowledge we're moving off a guy that isn't productive enough. So there are my report cards. My A's went to the Eagles, the Jets, and the Green Bay Packers. There you go.

Here's veteran newsman John Goulet. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. No Fs are very, very lenient. Giants were real close. The only reason I didn't give the Giants one is they did upgrade their interior, their offensive line with an immobile, Eli Manning. They drafted a kid last year out of U-TEP, who was a really good player, and they went and got a starter from the Browns Guard, another solid player.

So they've upgraded the interior of their O-line. They went out and got Solder last year, who's not as good as the money, but they got him. So they are making an effort to upgrade what really matters in the NFL. Once you have a quarterback, O-line, their problem is they need a new quarterback. I don't even think a D-minus is a real grade. I feel like I would have gotten one of those if it was. Last night, Zion Williamson returned for Duke and was literally perfect. He went 13 for 13 and Duke's went over Syracuse.

Now, after he got hurt, a lot of people suggested that Zion shouldn't come back to Duke. He should just sit out and protect himself for his NBA career. Yeah. Zion disagreed and talked about that after the game. For the people that think I should just stop playing in college and just focus on the NBA, Thanks, but no thanks. I know you agree with him. I think you think the narrative about how college is so evil.

Well, I think college basketball has value. I mean, I can tell you personally that college is where I grew up. I had to live on my own, make my own bed, feed myself. This idea that college basketball is evil if you don't pay the players, I don't buy into that. I think the NBA has got a maturity problem, emotional and physical maturity, and these guys would all be better off playing three years at Gonzaga, Xavier, Duke, Kansas. He did a really good coaches. This idea of college basketball is just bad.

It doesn't add any value. Give me a break. He certainly looked like he was having some fun last night. Yeah, I mean, now, now, did I think Zion would come back and play? No, I figured everybody would shut him down. He mentioned after the game, though, that he probably could have played three games ago, but they were extra careful making sure he is 100% healthy. Yeah.

So, I mean, if a doctor says you're not going to re-injure anything, then why not play in the ACCC tournament? I think actually coming back and playing with that kind of joy is a bonus. I mean, he was already going to go number one, but I think it makes him even more appealing as a shoe company, giving him an offer. And now we get to see him against North Carolina tonight, which we hadn't seen.

He got hurt in the first one and missed the second game. Yeah. Many people have criticized Labion Bell for sitting out the 2018 season and then taking the deal that he did with the Jets. He could have made $14, I think $14.5 million. last year and then probably signed a similar contract this year but Bell is happy with his

decision. I don't regret anything that happened. Obviously, everything is happening for a reason up to this point. But who can say, if I played last year, I do go out there and play on a one year franchise tag. If I do get hurt, do I end up sitting in this position today being with the New York Jets on a beautiful deal? You know, even on the other

side of it, say if I do go out there by the fact I take another 400 carries, you know, who's to say that? And I'd come out of the season healthy. Who's to say that a team will pay me after another 4 and carries? Do you agree that he protected his value by sitting out? Listen, you're not going to get that money back, but I

think, again, you don't just play sports for money. Memo to the media is that he's rested. He grew up wanting to be a New York jet. He now gets a young franchise where they can build around him

where he felt maybe just like a piece. Adam Gase is a great off offensive coach has a winning record when Ryan Tannale was healthy. He's not going to get the money back. But the media becomes so enamored. You know, winning matters and teammates matter and the city matters. And if he's a home run in New York, he's going to get endorsements.

He'll never get all the money back. But, you know, we know this to be true. C.J. Anderson came in at the end of the year for the Rams and looked really good. And C.J. was like, yeah, I was rested. I was ready to go. You know, there is value to Kareem Hunt will come in. in game eight for the Browns, and he'll have fresh legs. And so, you know, I think he's a home run for the Jets,

and they're going to put their arms around him and love him. And maybe he didn't feel that in Pittsburgh with Big Ben. Maybe he didn't feel that in Pittsburgh with the Roonies or Mike Tomlin. They are going to put their arms around him and make him the centerpiece with Donald. And I think he's going to, I think he has a chance to be a home run. And finally, you have always been pretty critical of the Green Bay Packers for their lack of spending and free agency, especially considering they have a Hall of Fame quarterback kind of towards the back end of his prime.

Yeah. But not this offseason. They sign Zedaria Smith, Preston Smith, Adrian Amos, Billy Turner. Good players. Not the typical Packers offseason of just drafting and letting their free agents walk. Their GM, Bryden Guden Coons, talked about the Packers off season. This is Green Bay, Wisconsin. We're in a win now mode all the time.

I thought we needed to add to our defense significantly. and I think these guys will. So I don't think that's any different than it ever has been. They upgraded defense, no question. Speed, Preston Smith, good player. They upgraded offensive line where they already have the league's best left tackle, arguably. I thought it was already impressive. And they were smart.

They didn't get into the first two days. They went after mid-day, by the way, they went after the same people I heard the Colts did. And I have great respect for the Colts. They went after mid-range guys, Amos for the Bears, Preston Smith, You don't have to pay a fortune, but they're really good football players. They're great guys in the locker room. So I thought the Packers did a great job.

They did the two things they needed to do. Get the defense better for Aaron and make sure you protect Aaron. That, to me, is an A. And I'm critical of the Packers. And just showing Aaron, yeah, we'll spend some money on people. Yes. They haven't done that in a while. The history of free agency, spending moderately on the right pieces is better than getting, quote, the star.

That's the history of free agency. John Goulet with the news. Well, that's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The Heard Lye News. So a report yesterday came out that several teams would be hesitant about trading for LeBron James. About two weeks ago, I said, I think you have to consider everything. I'm not saying I would trade him, but I would consider everything.

Anonymous NBA team owner said, quote, I wouldn't want to gut the team for a player that isn't committed and is toward the end of his career. Another one said he's not good enough anymore to take four cadavers and get to the finals. By the way, I agree in both pieces. Here's the thing. LeBron's a 2888 guy next year. He's going to be well-rested. He doesn't have the playoffs.

He's going to have a chip on his shoulder. That's not the issue. The issue with LeBron is the same issue you had with Michael Jordan and Kobe in the last third of their career. You had some ego. You had some entitlement. you had a media circus. You had, you know, a clutch sports. You've got every head coach LeBron deals with.

There's pushback. LeBron can no longer take a recycling bin of talent and win a title, especially in the West. He is more entitled and more distracted than he's ever been. The other thing, he's no longer Robin Hood. Paul George chose Westbrook over him. Kyrie Irvin bailed on him. This is exactly what happened to Kobe, where Dwight Howard turned down 30 million. Michael Jordan, where wizard players couldn't stand him.

This is the reality of icons who move into mogul stage. This is what happens. It happened with Kobe. It happened with Michael. Kobe scored 60 his last game. I saw Michael scored 25 in Portland last game there. He was the best guy on the floor. And Rashid Wallace was on the floor that night.

His last year he was still by far and away, one of the top players in the league and easily the best wizard. And they had Rip Hamilton, who was emerging as a star. and LeBron's easily the best Laker and still one of the top five players in the league. But he's no longer Robin Hood. There was a long time in the NBA. People wanted to play with Kobe.

People wanted to play with Michael. They wanted to be part of the biggest rock tour in the NBA. There was a time when people like a Badiere and a Mike Miller and a Ray Allen. They wanted to play with LeBron. The Robin Hood days are over. The Piper days are over. That's not the way it works anymore. Didn't work that way for Michael, Kobe, or LeBron at the end.

He's still a 28-8. and eight guy. I'm not denying that. But I've said before, there's four guys in the NBA right now that I would absolutely, I think, have more value than LeBron going forward. Janice, Steph, Durant, and Zion. Going forward, years left, what I'd have to pay him, influence on winning. I think those four guys I'd move for. Steph Curry scares me a little because of some injuries, but he's a game changer.

He changes your offense. He changes your back court. He's the league's best shooter and ball handler. It's also one of the nicest guys in the league. So leadership is about getting over yourself. Legends are very much into themselves. And I think that's what NBA owners are seeing right now. LeBron's moved into mogul stage. Michael and D.C. moved into mogul stage.

Kobe last two or three years acknowledged. I want to be the highest paid player. He moved into mogul stage. That is a big turnoff for a lot of other stars. Even stars who grew up worshipping you. Posters of you. And I don't want to be part of it. When Paul George chose Westbrook and Oklahoma City over LeBron and Los Angeles, that was a problem.

Because the Lakers thought in the building they had him, that was a problem. Now NBA owners are saying, yeah, we get it. He's still a 28-8-and-8 guy. Jordan was still great. Kobe scored 60 last game. It's not a talent. But there's a lot of things now, I said earlier when I had Cruz Broussard on last hour, LeBron now comes to your team with a suitcase, and you better have a lot of shelf space.

because, man, he's got a lot of suitcases, and they're packing a lot of stuff, and you've got to unpack a lot of things with LeBron that you didn't have to eight years ago. Rob Parker, oh, he has worked up, and he is up next. In L.A., it's the hurt. Oh, we got a lot of stuff with Rob Parker,

the FS1 Indigator, Ha, Instigator, part of the fastest growing sports radio show in the country, odd couple with Chris and Rob Parker. It's very funny. It's a great show. You're the crazy, loony part of the show. You already know, and Chris is the

voice of reason. Is that how it goes? Okay, Odell Beckham to the Browns. Everybody's freaking out. People in Cleveland, I've watched internet videos of Cleveland fans screaming and yelling. How big of a success is it? I think it's way, way, way premature. And I'm not saying that the players that they've put together in a nice group.

I like it, especially offensively. But Colin, let's just be honest. Look at who they beat a year ago. They beat one team over 500. That was Baltimore early in the season. With Flacco who got benched. Yes, and it was 12 to 9. Now, you go and look at the back end.

They beat up a terrible Cincinnati Bengals team twice. With Jeff Driscoll. That gave up 500 yards, you know, gave up defensively. They were awful. They fired their defensive coordinator. All I'm saying is pumped the brakes. Also, you got all these diva receivers who are going to warn. Somebody's not going to get the football.

Somebody's going to pout and moat. I know that they're good friends, and everybody acts like everything's great. That's a bunch of bull. It is until they don't get the ball. Then that's when there's an issue. So are they better? Absolutely. Offensibly, they have a lot of mouse to feed.

Yes. And, you know, when there are going to be games, people are going to bracket OBJ. And I also don't know if Freddie Kitchens to coach, this would be a hard team to coach for Belichick. And he's never been a head coach. in this situation. So there's a lot going on. And defensively, it's a bad football team. Well, they've upgraded up front defensively.

Miles Garrett's good. He's not special. Denzel Ward's good at Corner, but he got hurt last year. I think they're good defensively up front. But I will say this again. They have a different defensive coordinator. They have a new head coach. Well, as New England says, not about collecting talent.

It's about building a team. Their schedule is a little harder. And they're not going to sneak up on anybody. Nobody. This is a big difference. This is what people don't understand. When you get OBJ, don't tell me that you're going to come in thinking, oh, this is the Browns of old.

Not at all. So it's going to be different. I still like the Ravens in the division. I think Pittsburgh takes a step back. But I'm not handing over the AFC North to Cleveland because they got, you know, arguably one of the best receivers in the league. You grew up in Queens? Were you a Giants fan?

No, Jets. Because I used to take the train, the number seven train, to. Shea Stadium when they played at Shea Stadium. I froze my butt off many a Sunday. Watching Joe Namath and Shea. You know what I mean? At Shea Stadium. So what do you make of what the Giants are doing? I will say this. I think they have the last two years upgraded their offensive line.

Tip of the cap. I love offensive line play. Outside of that, what do you make of it? I think it's a total mess. Now, I was in Detroit where Matt Miller was the general manager, arguably the worst general manager history of pro sports. Just a disaster. and Giddleman here, I don't know what the plan is. I really don't. When he came, do you remember his press conference?

I didn't come here to trade Odell Beckham Jr. Do you remember that? Oh, okay, wind up trading him. Eli, we don't know what we're doing. No, no, Eli's coming back. Eli's been washed up for years, and they're still hanging on to the two Super Bowls.

I get it. They had the parade. They celebrated him. But enough already. I don't know where they're going. And Golden Tate, Is that your answer? Well, actually they have Sterling Shepard.

So Sterling, there's duplication. Golden Tate is like Sterling Shepard a little better after the catch. So they have duplication. They don't have a one, they have two-toes. Yeah. I don't know. I think if you're a Giants fan right now, you're disappointed. And I'll tell you, you could say whatever you want about Levyon Bell and the jet.

I think it's a great move. So do I. I think it's going to make Sam Donald 100% better over 9%. only from the standpoint that he can run the football, Lavian, and he can catch out of the backfield. Now he has a valve, you know what I mean, to get the ball out to somebody. He's got the best checkdown in the league.

The thing with Lavian Bell, Dak got Zeeke, helped. Goff got Gurley. Patrick Mahomes last year, the numbers went down when Kareem Hunt was released. Young quarterbacks all flourish, almost no exceptions. with a star running back behind them.

Okay, a story came out this past week. Jeannie Bus asked about Magic Polinka, the possibility of trading LeBron. Didn't do it, but at least talked about it. She was so furious with the trade rumors that imploded the young locker room. What do you make of it? Now, we had Rick Buecker who wrote that story

for the Bleacher Report. We had them on the radio show, Colin. Yes. And our thing was, A, were they really serious about making a trade? No, from this standpoint. And Rick admitted it. Because if there was really where she picked up the phone and started calling people, then that would be serious.

But she never picked up the phone and never talked to anybody. But did she think about it? She thought about it. And here's the problem. People are giving everybody, LeBron, all these excuses. He came here to take a team that did make the playoffs, last five years and make them better. He did not do that.

It's a fail, epic fail everywhere. I don't care what anybody says about the injuries. Colin, when he came back, they were still in the hunt for the playoffs. You saw the bad losses that they had. Atlanta, Memphis, New Orleans, without AD.

The Knicks. Right, the Knicks. And I mean, just like really bad losses. So my point is, he came here to change that. That didn't happen. And I think go back to what KD said about being around LeBron and the problem. And he said it's a toxic environment. And this is what the Lakers got.

I don't think that they were ready for what comes with LeBron. Pat Riley told people, I've got pretty good connections to the Miami Heat. Pat Riley told people that LeBron comes to your team and they want to run the team. And Pat Riley was never willing to relinquish that. So when LeBron went to Los Angeles, where Riley has, they're steeped in Pat Riley, history. Riley said, you're about to see the tsunami that comes with LeBron and Clutch Sports and their clients. So when Kevin Durant said that about LeBron, it's fairly toxic. It wasn't a shot at just LeBron. It was a shot at the entourage, the whole piece. I just said this 10 minutes ago.

LeBron comes with suitcases. There's a lot to unpack. No, there's no doubt about it. It's not just his game. And that's what the Lakers are finding out, because look where they are from this standpoint. They have no shooters. Right. But everybody said this when they first put the team together. That was the first glaring thing. And then here's the other part. If you're the Lakers, the only way you really could be able to move LeBron to me is if you talk to Kevin Durant and some of these other stars will say, if he's not there, I'm interested in coming to the Lakers.

Here's the other scary part. If the Pelicans decide, no, we're not doing business with the Lakers under any circumstances, Who are they getting? Who are they getting to come with LeBron next year? Nobody. Colin, it's going to be a mess. This is going to be a four-year mess. Everybody laughed at me when I said he came to Los Angeles to be Meryl Streep.

Do you remember that? You laughed. And I'm telling you, I'm right on this. He came here for the Hollywood stuff first. And if he wins, he wins. If he doesn't, but what he didn't realize is the fans here, they won't accept that. They want to win. They want to win a championship.

ship. Staples Center is not Hollywood. Hollywood is Hollywood. Staples Center is a lot of working. Like every team in the country, New York's full of rich people. Go to Yankee Stadium. It's working class people.

Outside of the first 10 rows behind the plate. You've been to Yankee Stadium. There's a handful of movie stars at Laker Games. It's mostly regular people. They're not into Hollywood. And I think it's a huge turnoff. Kobe lived in Orange County, helicoptered in.

He stayed away from Hollywood. until the very end, then he got into it. Kobe always knew that Hollywood and the Lakers are two. By the way, Shaq dabbled in Hollywood, turned off the Lakers front office, and they moved Shaq when they had to make a choice because I was told at the time they just felt like Shaq was too distracted and Kobe was all in on basketball.

But when Kobe retired, he went right to Hollywood. And you know, Colin, I was out shopping recently. I'm going to tell you how much L.A.'s turned off to LeBron. Let me see it. So, you know, I was out shopping and I was going to get an early Christmas present. You know, I run into you at T.J. Max all the time. Look, it's already 50% off at T.J. Max on LeBron. They're already moving on.

I mean, look at this. Do you watch Zion last night? Oh, man. Oh, bro. You know what I love about him? What? He wants to play basketball. I love the idea.

Once he became healthy, you play. You're 18 years old. And also, you got a chance to win a championship would do. Like, you and I both agree. If a college football player skips out on the Liberty Bowl, we get it. But you don't skip out playing, if you're for Clemson playing Alabama. No way, no matter what. I thought, I'm surprised.

I didn't think he would come back because I think he's such a generational money machine that people would get in his ear. I just figured he'd be pressured to not play. I love the fact he did play. I do too. I just think that a kid like that 18, if he was on Rutgers and they were playing in the The NIT. You know what Colin and I say, you should sit this one out. Right. You got nothing to gain here. But you're playing at a prestigious basketball school with a lot of history.

Why wouldn't you want to put a banner up that you helped win as far as for your history? You know what I mean? I'm part of your pedigree. I really, I like the kid more than ever after last night. Rob Parker, have a great weekend. Odd couple with Chris Broussard on radio later today. It's the Hurt. Oh, we're live. Hour three. What up? It's Los Angeles. This is the Hurt. wherever you may be and however you may be listening. We're on IHeart Radio, Fox Sports Radio, and today, FS1. Great to have you in.

Serious XM Channel 83 as well. Great to be. The show is just flown by today. Really fun. This is the best March I remember. I really, really think there's a lot going on. By the way, in 40 minutes, Jason McIntyre. He comes on every Friday, and we call it Monday's headlines today.

or he predicts what's going to happen over the weekend and what the headlines will be Monday. He is on a hot streak. He predicted Antonio Brown to the Raiders. This is a guy. One of the reasons I befriended him years ago, he's got contacts. He also called OBJ to the Browns. He did this a week ago. So he has been, yeah, dealt to Cleveland.

OBJ, he said, would get traded and dealt the Cleveland. He nailed it. And he said Antonio Brown will be traded to Oakland. He nailed both. So he's coming off a great week. Well, well, well, everybody now this week is talking about Antonio Brown to the Raiders and O'Dell Beckham, but we're not focusing enough on another offseason move. Does everybody get Levian Bell was the free agent signing?

Just because the car was in the garage for a year with a cover on it doesn't mean it's not a Lamborghini. Folks, Odell Beckham, Jr., struggled to stay healthy the last two years. He had 108 touches over the last two years. The last time Lavin Bell played, he had 406 touches in one year. He's the scrimmage yards leader career-wise in NFL history. Per game, nobody averages more yards than Lavin Bell. Jim Brown, behind him. Barry Sanders, behind him.

Is it because you don't like New York? You don't buy into Sam Darnold. This was the home run. This is the most impactful player signed. He will change first down. You can't bracket him like you can bracket a wide receiver. I get Antonio Brown's flashy. But if the Raiders' offensive line isn't good,

Derek Carr's not going to have time to hit him deep. Yes, I think Baker, Mayfield, and OBJ is going to be fun to watch. if OBJ can stay healthy. And if Freddie Kitchens, who nobody knows if he can coach his way out of a paper bag, can design games where there's balance in the offense. They got a lot of mouths to feed. The Jets do not have a lot of mouse to feed. Lampian Bell's the overwhelming star of the offense,

and he's right behind Sam Darnold. Just because he had a cover on the sports car in the garage for a year, what the Jets are actually doing is what the Rams did with Jared Gough. You draft your West Coast quarterback, who was very, very good in college. One year later, you fire a defensive coach. You're bringing an offensive coach. Then you go find an upgrade on the offensive line. Rams did that with Andrew Whitworth, a pro bowler.

Jets just did that with a raider guard, a pro bowler. Then you go find him a slot wide receiver. Robert Woods came from Buffalo to the Rams. And now they went out, the Jets, and got Crowder from the Redskins, a veteran slot receiver, you know, and then you make sure you have a star running back. You sign to a long-term deal, Gurley and Lavin-Bell. The Jets are doing what the Rams did. They draft a quarterback.

The first year, you had a defensive coach. You get rid of them. You upgraded coach. You upgraded slot receiver. You upgrade O-Line. The Jets reportedly are also going to draft O-Line as well. And like the Rams, who had. already Aaron Donald, some nice defensive players.

The Jets have nice defensive players. Leonard Williams, now C.J. Mosley, Jamal Adams, to keep the games close. So, Lavian Bell is the impact guy. 400 touches to 108 the last two years for OBJ. This is what you do. This is what you do with a young quarterback going into his second year. You get him a better offensive coach. You get a better slot weapon.

You upgrade the O line. You ensure he's got a star running back who can touch it 250 times. I mean, then, I mean, I just, I'm surprised how many people, maybe it's because I'm so pro Sam Darnold, it'll just be massive pushback. But if you watch Darnold play last year, the Jets had the second lowest rated running backs and the second lowest rated wide receivers, and they have massively upgraded four yards behind Sam Darnold. I mean, Lavian Bell's in the Jim Brown territory.

And, by the way, the Jets schedule, They were a last place team. It ain't a tough schedule. It is not a, their tough away game is Philadelphia. They don't face a lot of Pro Bowl quarterbacks. They face the Bills, the Dolphins, they face the Redskins, Ravens, Bengals, Jags, Giants. They don't face, they don't face a lot of Pro Bowl quarterbacks. They don't face a lot of dynamic offenses.

They face the Patriots twice, and they'll face Philadelphia, who has a chance to win the Super Bowl. So I am just surprised because it is New York and because it's an unbelievable all-time Jim Brown-level talent. Lavian Bell, it's not getting more love. I know it's not flashy. I know we like receivers more than running backs, but hello people. It's a major, major deal for the Jets. Now, if the guys cross town in New York could get it together.

Let me shift gears to this. You know how we have the Powerball lottery in America. and individual states have like lotteries and stuff, you know. You live in Delaware, Florida, or Texas, or Illinois. Everybody's got their own lottery, right? California, we got their own lotteries. There's a powerball lottery. And I don't really play the lottery much.

But then, you know, about once every couple years, it gets up to like $700 million or something. And you're like, oh, I'm going to play the lottery. Everybody plays the lottery. Folks, what you're watching in college basketball right now, and they just had a powerball lottery, get to $1.2 billion, everybody played it. Zion Williamson, let me give you a date to put in your head, May 14th, NBA lottery. That may outrank the actual playoff game that night.

This kid is different. There's four players in the history of basketball that I watched, either in high school or college, and you knew they were going to alter the league. Patrick Ewing, LeBron James, Shaq, and, LSU and Zion Williamson. He is going to change so many things about this league. Devin Booker's a nice

player for the Sons. He doesn't do anything for the overall league. Luca Dantage is a great player for Dallas. Zion Williamson is different. He's going to alter television ratings. It used to be that you just tank for the number one pick.

You are tanking for Zion. And there's six to seven teams now that are, or more. In Los Angeles, they won't call it that, but it looks like that. Last night, Zion Williamson was on the floor. Forget 13 for 13. The second best basketball player in college was on the floor last night and was invisible. He is the most exciting game-altering prospect to come into this league in 16 years since LeBron James.

And before that, it was Shaq. And before Shaq, it was Patrick Ewing. You're talking about a kid that's going to take a franchise, and if you're worth $2.5 billion, you'll be worth $2.5 billion the day he enters. He will change shoe company deals forever. He's going to change television ratings. He will sway conferences. People will draft to stop him.

I talked to an NBA scout a month ago, and I said, you know, I'm hearing a lot about, you know, different players going number one. And he goes, you don't have a choice. You have to draft him number one. He is going to be so discussed, so talked about, so fascinating. I mean, Zion was on TV last night, and so was LeBron. I watched every second of one and not a second of the other. And you can figure out who it was.

It wasn't LeBron. There wasn't anybody like Shaq. Nobody was that big and fast. There was nobody like LeBron, 6-9 point guard at a high school that handles the ball and passes like that. the knock on Patrick Ewing was he dunked too much. This kid sighs, his speed, his touch, his first step, his passion, his joy for the game. Folks, the second best player in college basketball was on the floor last night. He was as anonymous as a prank phone call.

Who where? Nobody cared. Total game changer. You get one of these. This is Tiger. This is Bright. Harper, and everybody will say it's too much. They almost always live up to the hype.

Shaq lived up to it. Ewing lived up to it. Tiger lived up to it. Bryce Harper now, going to make $330 million. The guys that become the guy every 10 years in any sport, we get one of these kids about every 8 to 10 to 12 years. Zion's it. And they almost always live up to it.

By the way, people forget with Patrick Ewing. Patrick Ewing was Georgetown basketball. when Ewing was there was the face of college basketball, not Duke, not North Carolina, not UCLA, not Kansas. Georgetown, because of Patrick Ewing, was the face of college basketball for four years. They were the most disgust, feared, they sold the most tickets, they were the most polarizing. They were the Miami Hurricanes. When the Miami Hurricanes had Jimmy Johnson and Dennis Erickson,

that was the centerpiece of college football. Georgetown was the centerpiece of college basketball. Couldn't take your eyes off him. And then he went to the New York Knicks, the most, I mean, the next, Knicks are the most highly valued franchise in the NBA. They're worth more than the Lakers and Celtics. And he made the Knicks next to Michael Jordan's Bulls. You had basically Lakers, Bulls, and the New York Knicks.

Didn't win the title, but I mean, let's be honest. Since Ewing's left the Knicks, what's happened? There you go. So don't push back on Patrick Ewing. Patrick Ewing was the centerpiece of college basketball for three, four, years and then he went to the New York Knicks and the New York Knicks were everything. I mean, it was Michael Jordan and the New York Knicks,

Spike Lee, Pat Riley, New York Knicks, John Stark, Patrick Ewing. I mean, it was man, this kid's special. Coming up next, a guy, pro football focus is a site I rely on. They grade every football player. Chris Collins

were as part owner of this business. It's a really good business. And we're going to bring on Sam Monson on camera. He is one of the guys that runs it, and he'll tell you what guys are actually worth. By the way, they love, PFF loves Baker Mayfield. It's my only knock on him. I actually like him as a quarterback, just not to grab and junk nonsense.

That's coming up. In L.A., it's the herd. One more herd? The herd streams 24 hours a day, seven days a week, within the IHeart radio app. Search Hurd to listen live or on demand whenever you'd like. Last night, a blown call changed the game. This morning, the internet lost its mind.

Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise. Breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to the source, the athlete themselves. Their locker room stories, their reactions, the stuff nobody gets to hear. The laughs, the drama, the triumphs, the moments that never make the highlight real.

From viral moments to historic games, from buzzer beaters to controversial calls, we break it down, give you context and ask the questions everybody wants answered. Sports Slice brings you closer to the action with stories told by the people who live them. Listen to Sports Slice on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slic Life 12 and the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of mental health awareness month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations. with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking. Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we've done enough. Because people scoreboard watch.

Life becomes about wins and losses. Steve Burns, Dustin Ross. Because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth? Are you a good person because you're afraid? Because that's two different intentions, bro. Absolutely. And that's two different levels of trust. I want you to just really be a good person.

Join me, Kear Gaines, is we have real conversations about healing, growth, fatherhood, pressure, and purpose on my new podcast, learn the hard way. Open your free iHeartRadio app. Search Learn the hard way and listen now. Life throws hurdles big and small. The question is, how do you conquer them? On hurdle with Emily Abadi, we sit down with the most inspiring women in sports and wellness. professional athletes, coaches, and Olympic champions to talk about the challenges that shaped them and the mindset that keeps them going. From the WNBA standout Kate Martin and rising hockey star Layla Edwards. If a boy can do it, I don't see why a girl can't.

Like, I've never understood that. Like, it didn't make sense in my brain. It's hard to be in spaces that no one looks like you, but don't ever feel like you don't feel like. Don't let that be the reason you don't do it. An Olympic champs Gabby Thomas and Katie Ledecki. The ability to show a gold medal to someone and have their face like. up and smile. That means the world to me. And that's what motivates me to win more gold medals. At our level, at this scale, like being able to fail in front of the entire world. Like, I can do

anything. I can, like, I can do anything. Because resilience isn't just about winning. It's about showing up, even when it's hard. Listen to Hurtle with Emily Abadi on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Presented by Capital One, founding partner of IHeart Women's Sports. Jacob Kingston grew up in an isolated polygamous sect. We were God's chosen kingdom on earth. He felt destined for greatness. So when a swaggering Armenian businessman catapults Jacob into an extraordinary world, he doesn't look back.

Ferraris and Lamborghinis, private jets, meeting the president of Turkey. I'm Michelle McPhee, and this is one of the most shocking criminal conspiracies I've ever come across. When Jacob met Levan this went to a billion dollar fraud. But with two kings from entirely different worlds, just how long can their empire survive? The largest tax investigation in American history. You need to tell me what you know. Is somebody coming after me? Jacob told Levan, you're ruining my life.

Listen to Kingdom of Fraud on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Great to have you in today. Sam Munson, my mom was from England, Lancashire, and I should like the other football, right? That's my family's heritage. Sam Munson's from Dublin, Ireland, and yet he is the lead analyst pro football focus, a site I have been going to now for a couple of years.

He's a great follow on Twitter, and it's just smart football. And increasingly, you know, you can be the Lakers and not pay attention to analytics, or you can be the Warriors and the Rockets and pay attention to analytics. You know, the Red Sox, the Dodgers, the Cubs, they pay attention to analytics. And that's why I'm just, I don't think, I think there's also man-a-lilics

where you're dealing with 24-year-old alpha males. You don't want to reduce every player to a number. But there are the teams that don't go heavy into analytics. And for years, people have said the Steelers don't, the Patriots do. Kansas City now does. I think it matters. And Sam Monson is joining us via the Coward Global Satellite Network. NFL analyst pro football focus.

My takeaway, I think Cleveland this year is going to look like a less well-coached, louder, more personality-driven Kansas City. I think O'Dell Beckham Jr. and Baker work because what Baker does well, accuracy, deep balls. Sam, when you look at Baker and OBJ, data, what does it tell you as they converge going forward? Yeah, I agree with you. I think O'Dell Beckham remains one of the back. S wide receivers in the NFL. He's right up there with Julio Jones, with Antonio Brown, with New Hopkins, with all those guys.

He's as good as any. When you look at yards per route run, the production he's able to have, he's one of the top three guys in terms of broken tackles after the catch. And he's done that with Eli Manning, kind of dragging him down for the past few years. Eli Manning has not been the top-level quarterback for years now. He's been a bottom third guy by PFF grades, and that translates to accuracy as well. Baker Mayfield was top 10 in terms of PFF grade right off the bat as a rookie. He's one of the most accurate quarterbacks we've ever seen.

He's the most accurate college quarterback we've ever seen, and that translated right away. So I think you're going to see this immediate bump in O'Dell Beckham's numbers just by having the top 10 quarterback throwing in the ball again. I think he's a better route runner than Antonio Brown. I don't think A, B with Derek Carr is quite as good in terms of matching, kind of routes and arm talent. I think Big Ben was actually a perfect matchup for Antonio

Brown. What are the numbers say? I think that's a huge part of this whole equation for Antonio Brown is that he has been one of the most quarterback dependent wide receivers, certainly of the elite white receivers all the way throughout his career. The chemistry he had with Big Ben was phenomenal.

But as soon as Ben went off the field, that's when those streaks of five catches, 50 plus yards in a game. That's when they got broken. And, you know, okay, the quality of drop-off was huge. You go to Landry Jones or a Charlie Batch or whoever the backup was at the time. It was a significant drop-off.

But the drop in passerating was 40-plus points. Now, the Raiders have to ask themselves, where on that spectrum is Derek Carr? Is he closer to where Rothesberger is? Or is he closer to where those backups were? Because there's a real potential that the level of play from Derek Carr is not high enough to maximize what Antonio Brown can do.

And you're right. compared to an Odell Beckham, he's been able to take these Eli Manning slant ponses, take them 80 yards, and still make Eli Manning look a lot better than he's been playing at times in the past few years. Okay, let me go to Lavian Bell. For some reason, it's being overshadowed. We have some examples here. Patrick Mahomes had Kareem Hunt.

It absolutely made things easier. Kareem left. Patrick wasn't quite as tight. Dak and Zeke, Gurley and Gough. Lavian Bell to Sam Darnold feels very much in the vein of those moves. You were a young quarterback. The light is still occasionally not coming on in the pocket. They're learning coverages.

They're learning defensive coordinator patterns. I think Lavian Bell Darnold works. What say you? And critically, when you look at all those other running back situations, what made them such good safety blankets for those quarterbacks is that they're all really good in the passing game. They're good receivers. They can be on the field every down.

They can give the quarterback a safety valve, a release net. And that was the big difference between Kareem Hunt and his replacements in Kansas City. They didn't have that ready-made threat in the passing game. Levyon Bell may be the best running back in the passing game. He's a legitimate whiteout threat, not just a running back out of the back field, but he played about 10, 15 percent of his snaps either in the slot or lined up out wide as a true wide receiver. Wow. His average depth of target compared with other running backs is way further down the field.

It's closer. It starts kind of crossing the barriers into where you expect tight ends to see targets, where you expect wide receivers to get targets. It's a different profile than you see from other running backs who just catch these screens and quick swings out of the backfield. Levi-on-Bell will be a success for Sam Darnel because of what he does in the passing game, not necessarily for the threat he brings as a ball carrier. Sam Munson, NFL analyst, Pro Football Focus, also has a podcast, the PFF NFL show.

Josh Rosen and Kyler Murray. Now, Cliff Kingsbury's game fits Kyler Murray better. And my opinion on it is I would struggle moving off a quarterback, but I would just basically, if I ran the Cardinals, I'd go to Cliff and say, listen, if you don't work, we're all getting fired. You make the call. My gut feeling is, my gut feeling is Cliff Kingsbury, his offense works better with Kyler Murray. What is the data say on Rosen? What is the data say on Kyler Murray?

Does PFF like Kyler? Well, I think that's probably true. But I think the bigger question is, where do you see Kyla Murray compared with Josh Rosen as prospects? Because whatever the Cardinals thought about Rosen last year, they were picking number 10. They didn't have their first choice quarterback on the board because Baker Mayfield was gone.

San Darnold was gone. They took Josh Rosen and they were apparently happy with him. But Kyla Murray is the best prospect. in this draft. Baker Mayfield was the best quarterback we've ever seen a PFF. He had the highest grade. He had the top two highest graded seasons we've ever seen. Kyla Murray's grade this past season just split Baker Mayfield.

It just put him between those two Baker Mayfield seasons. He's not quite Baker, but he's closer to Baker than the difference between those two and anybody else over the past two seasons. So for the Cardinals, you have to look at that and say, this guy might just be objectively significantly better than the quarterback we had a chance at a year ago. And at that point, I think you have to take the better quarterback prospect. You have to say, Kyla Murray could be special, and we're not sold on the idea that Josh Rosen can be. Let's take Kyla Murray.

The absolute worst-case scenario is you have two young promising quarterback prospects now. But alternatively, you trade Josh Rosen. There should be takers for him for a first to second round pick. There are plenty of teams that still need a quarterback. but let's shoot for the stars. Let's go for the guy that's got the special talent. Let me ask you, is there a free agent left that is graded high that hasn't been signed somewhere? I think there's a few of them, but I think the guy that makes the biggest impact would be Ronald Darby, cornerback coming out of the Eagles. He's a guy that's played in multiple different systems.

He can play man. He can play zone. He's played both into a high level. And he's young. You know, cornerback is, I guess, the third most important position in the NFL in terms of value, in terms of stopping the pass. Quarterback is number one, receiver's number two. Corner would be three. You need to get a guy that can start helping slow down opposing passing offenses, and Ronald Darby can be that guy. There have been some injury concerns with him, but a team like Kansas City that had a disaster secondary last year, he's supposedly visiting them. I'm amazed they've left him out of the building if it got that far. and there's other teams that should be chasing Darby as well.

Golden Tate to the Giants. He's good after the catch. I mean, I watched him in college. I watched him in Detroit. You know, Seattle, I've seen him around. I kind of know his game, but does he work with Eli? I mean, I think he's amazing after the catch. He has 35 more broken tackle since 2014 than any other wide receiver.

And Odell Beckham is third on that list. So, you know, Golden Tate is a fantastic receiver after the catch. He operates primarily. from the slot, which makes it a little bit of an interesting mix for the Giants who already have Sterling Shepard on board. He can definitely play outside as well, but it's not maximizing his talent. I think he can do a little bit of what Beckham did to help Eli in terms of taking those short passes, breaking some tackles, making some yards after the catch. But Golden Tate is not going to solve the problem of quarterback that the Giants have.

Eli Manning is declining. He's a lower third quarterback. Golden Tate is not going to turn Eli Manning back into the franchise quarterback he was, way back in 2011. The Giants need an answer at quarterback. By the way, I like Sam Darnold. I think his release point, I think last year at the end of the year, he looked like he was well coached.

Maybe that was Josh McCown. It was a good quarterback room, but I thought he really played well. They have very little talent on the perimeter. Robbie Anderson's okay. Decent young, tight end. I think Donald takes a step up with Adam Gase, with Crowder, with Levian Bell. They've upgraded

the O line. I don't, and I think, Sam will improve. What do you make on his growth going forward? What does he do well? What's he struggling with? Yeah, he was a quarterback that was our second favorite quarterback last year's draft behind Baker. And if you look at the last few weeks of the season, Sam Darnel actually was the number one graded quarterback in football, according to PFF's grades.

Baker was number four. So both those guys finished the season extremely strongly. And I think both teams are doing the right thing in terms of building around their two cornerstone pieces now. I agree with you. I think Darnel will improve in year. too. We really liked his ability to improvise on the move. He has

some incredible big time throws outside of structure, can make some special things happen. Really, our only concern was just the consistency week in, week out, and what he was able to do on a down-to-down basis. It wasn't quite where Baker's baseline was all the way through

college. But I think the jets are moving in the right direction, and they certainly believe in him. I think he will be better year too. Sam, absolute pleasure. Sam Munson, pro football focus. Check out podcast as well. Love following you. You make me smarter. And thank you so much for joining the herd today on a Friday. Thanks for having me anytime. Have a good day, guys.

You bet. My mom's from England. He's from Ireland. And look at that. But we should be soccer guys. I mean, right there. Veteran newsman John Goulet. No, no, no, no. Turn on the news. This is the herd line news. I don't think it's fair that I have to follow the guy with the cool accent. That was not planned well. I do not appreciate that. So John Elway has had a lot of trouble finding a quarterback ever since Peyton Manning retired. Yeah.

He's tried just parading guys out there that are six foot seven. That hasn't worked. Has it worked. So this time he said, I'll just trade for a quarterback who's won a Super Bowl and brought in Joe Flacco from the Ravens, who benched him for a guy that can't throw. Yeah. Elway said 34-year-old Flacco still has many years of good football left. Flacco had this to say about his age. I mean, shoot, with Tom Brady now, quarterbacks are playing until they're about 60 years old.

So barring anything crazy happening, I'm as healthy as I can be and as physical and ready to go as ever. So I'm excited about what lies ahead for me and my future. And I got, you know, I'm not putting a number on how much time I got left to play. I want to play as long as I can. Listen, here's the thing that's not being talked about. Case Keenham was a smaller quarterback without a big arm. You play in Denver. Your last four home games, it's cold, sometimes windy.

Kansas City is going to be a dominant team for a decade. Can get a little cold and windy. John Elway wanted a big strong quarterback that can play in cold weather. Playoffs are always in December and January and early February. And I think, you know, Elway's takeaway is Case Keenham was great that one year in a dome with great wide receivers. We don't have great wide receivers. I want a big, strong, strapping guy who can play in December and January, can go to Kansas. Kansas City when it's hailing sideways.

And I support the move. I don't think he's significantly better than a lot of average guys. But Elway's takeaway is I've played in December, January football in the AFC. And Case Keenham's arm is going to be limited. Case Keenham's best year, by the way, was inside of a dome with a ton of perimeter weapons. And Denver plays outside without those great weapons. And Elway has not really shown an ability to draft a quarterback. That's hard.

Also, Flacco has always been a guy where if you motivate him, he can be good. Yes. But he's not always motivated. He's not a terribly accurate thrower, which is always going to limit him. But Elway wants to run the ball anyway, because that's how he always had success is when he had a running back. So after trading, or sorry, after adding Antonio Brown and Tyro Williams in the past week, the Raiders have released wide receiver Jordy Nelson. Yeah.

A few months ago, John Gruden said Jordy would be back next season, and they gave him a three and a half, million dollar roster bonus. Yeah. That timed out well. It just kind of proof to you that they have clearly changed their plans significantly. Yeah, I mean, I've said this before. I mean, they do have a ton of first round picks, and I think we need to sit and wait and watch.

They played well last year at the end of the year. But there is a sense with the Raiders. They're kind of making it up as they go. This is not something New England would do, right? Give somebody $3.5 million, then release him. That's not what, well, smart organization. That's not what the Houston Rockets or the Warriors would do. or the Red Sox would do.

So when I watch them, there is an element to it that I like with the Raiders. I do think Antonio Brown and Williams and getting better at left tackle. I just think they overpaid for everybody. And this is not an organization flush with cash. So there is a quality of what the Raiders are doing that feels very much like they're making it up as they go. I'll stand by that. But I do think also it's a great defensive draft. and if they'd spent all three picks on defense, there is no question.

They're going to get better, more athletic, younger, and cheaper on defense. There's some rumors out there that they might actually bring Jordy back, but just at a lesser number. It's also been kicked around that maybe he reunites with the Packers. Rogers was not happy when he left. He'd probably be pretty cheap. Yeah. Think about this. The Raiders money now is all offense.

Derek Carr, Trent Brown, Williams, and Antonio Brown. What is this draft known for? Defense. So Gruden could be saying, listen, this draft is a great defensive draft. I got four picks, I think, in the top 35. Gruden could go all defense. It sounds a little logical to be the Raiders fan, what do you think? Well, you can see where they're spending their money now.

They're spending all their money on offense. And my takeaway, as Gruden is saying to his staff, guys, all the top players in this draft are defense, we're going to draft four out of our four top picks or three of four on defense. If the Raiders did that, it would feel like, oh, I get the plan that. spend the money on guys in the league and offense, veterans who can figure out an offense quickly. Which Gruden likes. He likes veterans. He likes veterans that he works with and make our defense young, dynamic, athletic, and cheap. I get it. I get it. And finally, LeBron and the Lakers lost to the Raptors last night.

Didn't watch. Right. Watching Zion instead. LeBron was seen after the game telling Kauai Leonard will be in touch. Twitter has taken that to mean they're going to go hard after pursuing him. this off season to sign with the Lakers. I think it's worth noting, LeBron not playing tonight against Detroit. So in the back-to-backs, he chose to play against

Kauai and not against the Pistons. Because remember, he's not doing back-to-backs, but he kind of gets to pick which game he plays and doesn't play. Right. There's also another theory out there, he said, will be in touch because they want Kauai Leonard to play the silent Monstar in Space Jam 2, which is filming this summer.

Which dumb conspiracy do you buy? I don't buy any of them. I think... Kawhi's not going to be in Space Jam 2. Or a Laker, but you can say a lot of things. By the way, just because LeBron said we'll be in touch doesn't mean Kauai will get in touch. We'll be in touch means we're going to, you know, out of respect, my guys will call your guys and try to make you a Laker. You can, you know, again, a lot of guys say to pretty women, hey, let's, I'll give you a call.

Doesn't mean the answer. I mean, it doesn't mean anything to me. We'll keep in touch to means Rich Paul and my guys, we're going to contact you. All right. That doesn't mean anything. Of course they're going to contact him. He's Co-I Leonard. Of course they are.

I mean, a little odd LeBron knows their cameras on him to say that right there. I don't know if LeBron does. That's like a handheld phone. Is that a camera or a phone? LeBron would be doing a disservice to his representation if he didn't say, we'll get in touch. That's, you know, Clutch Sports. LeBron, their boys, that's the group, the unit. I mean, you can try to separate them, but they all, you know, it's all kind of the same guys, right?

I mean, Rich Paul runs clutch sports. LeBron, you know, ran the NBA. Listen, the Lakers aren't very good. We have to come up with something to talk about with them. I like the idea that he's openly recruiting Kauai on the court after games. I still contend it's Raptors or Clippers. That's what I'm hearing. John Goula, a veteran newsman with the news, of course.

That's what a newsman would do. That's the news. And thanks for stopping by. The herd lines. He's the hottest guy in sports. He predicted AP to the Raiders a week before it happened. He predicted OBJ to the Browns leaving the Giants a week before it happened. Monday's headlines today.

Coming up next, Flyers Battle of Maple Leafs in the Discover card key matchup tonight. Get your free credit scorecard today. Even if you're not a Discover customer, learn more. Discover.com slash credit scorecard limitations apply. One of my favorite segments every Friday. Last 10 to 12 minutes of the show, Jason McIntyre, who founded the big lead.com. He's got Coming Up Winners podcast. A friend of mine years and years ago, I told Jason, I said, listen, you're going to do TV and radio.

You don't know what you're doing. You look too young. Just give me some time. And he's worked himself into a regular guest spot on the show, and he's fantastic. And we're going to, you know, occasionally we go out and have beers and talk about the world in sports. You're being so kind. I know. What's wrong with me? Are you going to be this nice after I beat you in tennis? Have you told everybody about your new tennis? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. All right. We're going to play, folks. I'm like Federer over here. Do you live stream that? Here we go. So you had a great last couple of weeks. Let's play the clip from a couple of weeks. This was like two and a half weeks ago. Let's play this clip. His buddy Jarvis Landry, of course, from LSU. He's a star in Cleveland. Baker Mayfield recently hanging out with Odell Beckham. it's not crazy that the Browns, they get Odell Beckham. That was not just a day ago. That was like two and a half weeks ago.

Let's hear it for McIntyre. Very impressive. Squirrel finds a nut every once in a while. All right, we call it tomorrow's headlines today. You also predicted A, B. Will the Browns be contenders with Odell? I mean, geez, social media. Just put them in the Super Bowl, right?

Unfortunately, tomorrow's headline will be there's still the Browns. I think by mid-season we're going to be like, wait a minute. These are the Browns we're talking about. Colin, there is something psychological about going from being the hunter, which is what they were. Oh, I'm Baker Mayfield. I'm going to set this league on fire to being the hunted now. They are the number one team that everybody's talking about.

They're going to be on TV so much next year. We know that. And I just think the burden of expectations on Baker, O'Dell, they're going to get Kareem Hunt after eight games. You know, they've got a coach who's never been a head coach. before he. Never been a coordinator for a full season. This is a lot on a franchise. I think give them

a year. I think they'll miss the playoffs next year. Everybody's betting him to go to the Super Bowl, which is silly. And Vegas odds have come all the way down. I thought there was value a month ago at like 35 to 1, but now it's like 12 to 1. I know it's stupid. Can we stop? Does coaching matter in the NFL? The last

four coaches left were Belichick, Andy Reed, McVan Payton. And oh, by the way, other guys that were involved late were like, you know, Frank Reich, who's been a home run for the And remember, when everybody is saying something, Colin, what are you supposed to do? Go the opposite. Remember last year the Patriots were dead. They're not going anywhere.

They won the Super Bowl. Like, just relax on the Browns. They were a 7-8-and-1 team that was blown out four times. And they were one in five against playoff teams. The only win was over Flacco in overtime, 12 to 9, and he got booted. By the way, they got spanked in those games against playoff teams. Like double-digit losses. Chargers crushed them.

Chiefs. Yeah, they were close against the Ravens at the end of the season. That was a great game. And I like what they've got, obviously. But next year's Super Bowl, like stop, guys. Okay. Tomorrow's headlines today. What impact will Lavin Bell have on the Jets?

I'm a little impartial being a Jets fan in New York. I think tomorrow's headline will be saved by the Bell. One of the great iconic TV shows, obviously, from back in the day. Yeah. I know Goulet loves Saved by the Bell. I'm telling you, they're going to get. the bump from a new head coach. Remember, last year, Frank Reich and Nagy in Chicago, both took teams in their first year to the playoffs. No question. What did Adam Gaze do in his first year in

Miami with Ryan Tannahill playoffs? By the way, Adam Gase had a winning record with Tannahill starting. Brock Osweiler for two hours last year looked like a quarterback with Adam Gase. I don't think people realize that Levyon Bell is instantly the greatest running back in Jets franchise history. They had Curtis Martin, he was awesome, but he was like later in his career. Leveon Bell is like one of the most dominant running backs in the league didn't play last year, Colin. So he's

totally fresh. I love the addition of Jamison Crowder. They built the offensive line. If you look at linebacker, C.J. Mosley, he's amazing against the run. I'm telling you, they got the third pick in the draft. I think this is a 10-win team. I've already, I'm going to bet the over-season win total on the

Jets. I believe they're a playoff team in the AFC. By the way, speaking of Ryan Tannahill, he just got traded to the Titans. He'll be a backup to Marcus Mariotta. Well, he might start because Mariotta's hurt every year. Yeah. So that's Ryan... Tannihil to the Titans. Yeah, there you go.

Monday, tomorrow's headlines today in the NFC, most surprising team after free agency. They were so buzzy last year and I'm telling you, the headline on my surprise team is don't you forget about G.

A great 80s song. I love 80s music. I'm very nerdy about it. I'm telling you right now, my team in the NFC is the 49. I totally agree with you. Folks, do you remember Kyle Shanahan and Atlanta had Tevin Coleman and Devante Freeman? He just added Coleman on the cheap. And they got McKinnon coming back from injury, Breda. I love what they're doing with the defense. They need a number one receiver, but there is no question. They have the number two pick. They went and got a corner. Quaunne Alexander is a great athlete. Good middle linebacker. Coming off the injury. And they're probably going to draft an edge rusher.

there is no question. Oh, they also got D Ford. Oh, yeah. They're going to, I really like what they're doing. Big on what Lynch and Shanahan. And remember, that division, I'm telling you, Seahawks exceeded expectations last year, okay? I think they'll come back a little bit, and we both agree the Rams are probably going to take a step or two back. They're not going to be a Super Bowl team next year.

I like the 49ers a lot in the NFC West. I think they can go to the playoffs next year. Yeah, so do I. The two teams, I think, improve you and I are on board. Every year I pick it two teams to double their wins, and I've been really, really accurate through the years. My picks this year are Jets and 49ers. 49ers won four games.

Now, the expectations were because two years ago, remember Jimmy G. wins like five in a row late. And everybody's like, oh, 49ers, and they had the injuries. I like them a lot this year. All right. Tomorrow's headlines today, now that LeBron's done, what's the biggest non-Lebron story line in the NBA? Did they play NBA games this week?

No chatter at all in the NBA. tough week, and I'm a big college basketball nerd. I think the headline will be Nation Fears, Raptors Nuggets, finals. Colin, a lot of TV executives, NBA executives sweating this right now. Milwaukee's also going to at least get to the Eastern Conference finals. Well, I mean, they need

Sixers and Celtics, obviously, and if something happens to the Warriors, oh my gosh, but there is some concern about these NBA playoffs, right? It's just the lack of juice right now. Like Zion Williamson returned to Duke. We'll talk about him shortly. College basketball, Buzzy. Who's talking about the NBA other than LeBron and the Lakers? Leagues are as

good as their stories. This has been a bad story year for the NBA. The Warriors are bored. We're kind of waiting for Chris Paul Harden for the playoffs. LeBron's a disaster. And Denver and Toronto and Milwaukee outside of Janus

are good and fun, but they don't have any history of success recently. Milwaukee Bucks haven't won a playoff series. I don't even know if you were hosting a national radio show. I mean, the Nuggets haven't won a playoff series in a decade. People are like, you know what? The Nets are kind of exciting

because they were on TV the other. No, I mean, I get it. It's fun, but no LeBron is such a disaster. Regional ratings, national ratings, all-star ratings, all down, some double digits. Oh, man, and I saw Rob Parker earlier and, you know, he's doing a victory lap over the

Lakers missing the playoffs. I just got to say, this trade LeBron stuff, Colin, going a little overboard. Come on. You don't think there's any... Colin. I'm not saying I would. I would take calls. There's a lot of things I take calls on.

You know what LeBron will do? He'll just retire. He's not going to go play in Sacramento. That's fine. He's just going to go off and do more movies. All right. Tomorrow's headlines today. Prediction for Zion and Duke and the attorney.

Yeah. So Zion's back. You love college hoops. I do. I'm trying to weasel my way on a Monday's show. after your brackets come out. I do 20 brackets, by the way. 20 bracket. Of all my friends, you are the biggest college basketball. Bigger the Gottlieb? Will you give it to me?

Godlebe is hardcore. Yeah, Gottlieb. Well, you're both. You both tweet all day long. No, no, not anymore for me now that I, you know, at any rate. Okay, so the headline for Zion and Duke will be 67 teams forfeit. Duke wins the NCAA tournament. It feels like a lock, Colin. No, Carolina's good. Hold on. Timeout, time out. Duke has lost one game at full strength this year to Gonzaga in November. I know. And remember that game? Yeah, because Duke's guy, R.J. Barrett, who's a good player, went hero ball in the final 90 seconds and screwed it up.

But the other games they've lost, Zion was hurt or the point card was hurt against Syracuse. Dude, did you watch him last night? Oh, it's just incredible. He's so much fun to watch. And he just seems like he loves the game. He's so dominant. And people are trying to say he's Blake Griffin. No, no, no, he's not Blake Griffin.

Oh, no, no, he's a better player. He's not LeBron. First of all, he's got a better shooting touch. I do think he's got 20%, 25% Carl Malone, 25% Blake Griffin, where he's just physically superior, his weight size. He shouldn't be able to do what he's doing. I mean, I think he's heavier than JJ Watt. I do.

Yeah, he is right now. This guy's like 285 pounds. He blocks everything. But when he's playing 82 games, he'll thin out. That's a good point. Also on the defensive end in the NBA, he didn't have to play defense at college. Not that he doesn't, but you don't have to. How many times does he face an NBA player on the defensive end but twice this year?

Yeah, maybe. I mean, North Carolina is good, but I got Duke tonight. I bet them at two and a half. It's up to four already. And North Carolina swept them, but again, Zion did not play. Carolina is good. They're good. Give me Duke, though.

Now Duke's weakness, though, is the three-point shot. No, they're not a great shooting team. 132nd in the country shooting threes. Yeah. So. There's not a lot of great three-point shooting teams, though, in college hoops. But Zion makes up for all of it, man. Now, Carl Malone's an interesting comparison.

I like that. I have not heard that one. Carl Malone had a great first step. You'd foul him. My only concern on Zion Williamson, it's not the weight because I think once he plays 82 and has to play the cardio defense, he'll be fine.

He's got to be a better free throw shooter. I think he's about 68%. He's going to get to the line of ton. And let me tell you something. I watch Carl Malone live a lot. Carl Malone, not only the pick and roll with Stockton, he lived at the free throw line. This kid's going to get fouled.

for the next 15 years in the NBA. He'll be at the line seven times a night. You've got to hit five of those. I think you're on to something with the body and the injuries. Remember, Lonzo Ball has played two seasons now. You know he's missed like 60 games? Brandon Ingram. Yeah, these injuries, like these guys,

Zion's probably going to have to trim out a little bit. Lose at least 10 pounds, right? He can't go into the NBA and jump around like that at 285. Well, I just think that you don't have, you know, college basketball, I mean, Syracuse plays a zone. You don't have to work as hard. You get to play 82 games. In fact, I would argue what made Barclay so good early and we'll make Zion and Carl was good early is they can withstand going from 36 games to 82 games.

LeBron only broke down at 34 years old. Yeah. Had no injury. Biglead.com, Jason McIntay, anything you want to tell us, any big news? Not really. My wife's not pregnant. No, not that. My mom's coming in town.

Maybe she'll come watch our tennis match. Your mom's coming in town. Well, congratulations for that. She's raised quite a prodigy. Thank you. Very proud of all your growth. All right, Colin Wright, Colin wrong. Well, Zion played last night, so there's a big wrong.

Oh, I can tell you right now. We'll see you. Have a great weekend. Be safe in L.A. It's the herd. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. And nobody's telling you exactly what happened.

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